Developing Basic Mathematical Skills of Pre-School Children by using Plasticized Clay

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to study the development of basic mathematical skills in preschool children by using plasticized clay. A pre-test and post-test design was adopted for the study to compare the difference before and after the art activity. The experimental group of 15 preschool children of 3-4 years old, attending kindergarten 1 during the school year of 2015; were selected based on their low grade in basic mathematical skill. The assessment was done by using the measurement tool created by the researcher. The experiment was conducted by using plasticized clay in art activities for 6 weeks, 3 days per week or totaled to 18 times. The study covers all the 6 basic skills in mathematics viz. observation, categorization, comparison, classification, order arrangement and measurement, which consists of 3activities per skill, totaled to18 activities, as per the activity table. The same set of test has been conducted to test the basic skill in mathematics by pre-test and post-test design. To compare the difference between the points, paired sample T-Test was done. The research findings indicate that, the art activities’ using plasticized clay is highly effective to develop basic mathematical skills in pre-school children. And the children in this research exhibited a higher level of development in mathematical skill after participating in the activities. Conclusion and Recommendations are also presented for further research.

Keywords: basic mathematic skills; pre-school children; art activities’; plasticized clay.