Abstract:

In this qualitative study, semi-structured interview questions were asked to twelve 1st grade classroom teachers working in villages. The aim of the study is to specify 1st grade classroom teachers’ needs, views and suggestions regarding the implementation of the 1st grade Mathematics curriculum. Twelve classroom teachers, ten of whom are first grade teachers and two of whom are multi-grade class teachers (one of them covers the content of 1st grade and 3th grade together, and the other covers 1st and 2nd grader course content) voluntarily participated in the study. Two themes emerged from the interviews: factors affecting the 1st grade curricula and factors affecting 1st grade Mathematics Curriculum. Under the first theme, 60-66 month-old children, the effect of pre-school education, and physical conditions of schools emerged as categories. The "Other" category under the first theme included the participants’ suggestions like making pre-school education obligatory and taking into account schools with one classroom by central curriculum development team. Under the second theme, the categories of attainment, content, materials, and effective instructional methods emerged. In Numbers and Operations topic, the problematic areas were found to be confusion between the capital letter "E" and number "3", counting down from 9 to 5, teaching of zero, and teaching of two digit numbers. It was highlighted that geometric models and 10’s series of accounting blocks are needed. Moreover, the concepts of whole, half, and quarter require models. Similarly, it was found that it is difficult to achieve some attainments. As the results revealed, as far as the attainments "Students will be able to notice..." are concerned, it is difficult to make students notice without explaining the topic. Playing games, drama and musical-rhythmic intelligence were listed as the effective methods in teaching mathematics subjects.

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