Abstract:

Froebel Gifts are the first educational materials designed for kindergarten children in the education history. After Froebel introduced the first construction and design materials for early childhood mathematics education in 1850’s, several companies such as Lego Bricks, Lincoln Logs, and K’nex were influenced by his design. Considering the influence of Froebel Gifts on mathematics and geometry education tools for young children, it is important to analyze their impact on pre-school children’s geometry skills. This study investigated the effects of a geometry education program mediated with Froebel Gifts on 5-6 years-old children’s geometric skill development. The participants consisted of 40 pre-school children in Istanbul, Turkey. Twenty children in the experimental group received an 8-week intervention with Froebel Gifts while the control group continued their regular program. Early Geometry Skill Test (EGST) was used before and after the intervention and the collected data were analyzed with independent sample T-test. The results indicate a significant change in favor of the experimental group in the skills of building with blocks, recognizing the three-dimensional objects, predicting the surface shape of the three-dimensional objects, and recognizing the side and corner properties of two-dimensional shapes. The teacher’s instructional strategies and the physical and representational properties of Froebel Gifts are discussed and evaluated in the light of these results to provide insight about the features of an effective geometry education.

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