Assessment of the Practices for Early Mathematics Thinking in Preschools of Pasaje City, Ecuador

• Main Authors: Clelia Consuelo Reyes-Cedeno, Hector Ivan Rivas-Cun, Carmen Elizabeth Espinoza-Cevallos, Carlos R. Rojas-Garcia*
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: RU Publications 2019-10-01
• Series: European Journal of Educational Research
• Subjects: Preschool curriculum; mathematical thinking; parents’ literacy; socio-economical status.
• Online Access: http://eu-jer.com/EU-JER_8_4_1063.pdf

Preschool education is fundamental to shape children’s aptitudes and skills in early life. Ecuador is following a global education trend for starting-up mathematical thinking at earlier development ages, but this is only reflected in vehement curricular changes that are not supported properly. As a result, the safeguarding of a good children’s education appears to be lessened. This work aimed to evaluate the mathematics thinking practices in preschools of Pasaje city, Ecuador. The investigation employed a descriptive approach, hence data were collected from 65 teachers and 810 parents from public and private preschools by means of interviews and questionnaire in an attempt define some causes (teacher’s education, children’s socio-economical and family circumstances) that impair the initiation of the numerical, spatial and metric and geometric aptitudes in children. The results showed that not only preschool practices but also the home environment linked to socio-economic status appear to have positive or unfavorable influences on their children’s education.