This article presents a study regarding preschool teachers’ skills and competencies in teaching science and mathematics. The aim of the project was twofold; one to find out the preschool teachers’ knowledge about mathematics and science concepts and then to develop support material to empower them with skills and competencies to teach these concepts in preschools. A qualitative approach was adopted, and a case study method was used. Data were collected through two workshops and focus group discussions with preschool teachers. The study revealed that the preschool teachers had content knowledge, but lacked pedagogical knowledge that is crucial in teaching of preschool children, and they provided science and mathematics experiences in preschools scarcely. A resource book of 33 local games and rhymes thus was developed as a support material to empower the teachers with skills and competencies to use play to teach science and mathematics in preschools. The resource book developed consists of 33 local games/rhymes and is packaged with the games’ illustrations, steps and rules followed in the games, science and mathematics concepts and competencies that could be taught to children, along with probing questions that would help in teaching of science and mathematics concepts to children.
The Primary School Leaving Examinations results of Botswana show learners’ poor performance in science and mathematics. Similar results are seen in Junior and Senior secondary schools, and at tertiary level the learners either avoid taking mathematics and/or science subjects or they do not manage to sail through smoothly when they take them. Thus, the learners’ preparation needs to be looked into and, early childhood (EC) being the foundation level, needs to be probed as early as possible. The existing preschool practices need to be assessed; the teacher’s knowledge, skills and competencies in teaching/learning of science and mathematics need to be examined; and support materials have to be provided, if necessary. This research intended to find out whether the preschool teachers have knowledge about mathematics and science concepts that are embedded in local games and to empower them with skills to teach science and mathematics concepts, through the development of a resource book. In order to develop such resource materials for preschool teachers, it is imperative to understand the developmental process of science and mathematics concepts in preschool children.
Children’s understanding of scientific and mathematical concepts grows during EC as the majority of brain development takes place during these years, and most rapidly (Berk
Ideally, an environment should be provided for children to deal with activities related to numbers, length, area, volume, weight, colour, function, shape, geometric features, patterns and texture along with hands-on materials to believe and see it happen, as science is not intuitive. The ability to ask questions, recognise relevant details and use a combination of observation and inference to generate evidence-based explanations need to be encouraged to enhance science process skills in children. Activities that are able to control variables, generate and interpret evidence, formulate models, measure and communicate ideas while clarifying meaning, classifying and predicting and recognising causality should be part of the EC Education (ECE) curriculum. Ideas such as uncertainty, probability, necessity, sufficiency, and forming and testing a hypothesis should be available to children and they should be able to design experiments and revise hypotheses. Tools that enable testing of various concepts of living and non-living things should also be included in ECE classrooms (Gallenstein
The teachers’ role is undoubtedly very important in planning, supporting and guiding children in learning about maths and science concepts. They can use various teaching strategies and techniques such as modelling and providing feedback and cognitive structuring in an environment that encourages learning through social relationships (Fu
Play in children is a powerful tool and is a predictor of optimal early learning and future success in life (Grand Fun Alley Learning Center
At preschools, rhymes and songs on the other hand come to life during circle times as preschool children show word meaning through simple actions and finger movements. Preschoolers develop memory and recall skills as they sing and recite songs and rhymes and find it fun and exciting to explore the world of language while moving their fingers, arms and bodies and singing songs and action rhymes. Rhymes and songs are important early activities that spice up learning with fun and could be included as parts of the pleasure-giving play activities that the children indulge in the preschools of Botswana.
Children are usually told stories and they actively participate in songs, dances, art traditions, celebrations, beliefs and values that are unique to their culture and experience in most of the preschools. Playing games and singing rhymes that are rich in cultural beliefs, values and norms can be a good source of enjoyment, and through them, the teachers can teach science and mathematics concepts to the young children. A teacher needs to make use of opportunities to integrate this rich cultural diversity into the curriculum and weave it into the fabric of everyday school life. Playing local games especially in early years develops children’s values, morals and ethical standards and can provide a rich experience to the children. Therefore, the present study explores the advantage of using play in teaching/learning of mathematics and science in preschool, as an innovative strategy.
This article is informed by several theoretical perspectives, namely Shulman’s notion of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) that includes pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge (Hlas & Hilderbrandt
Shulman introduced the notion of PCK and believed that teacher education programmes should combine the PCK, which means the ‘how’ of teaching to structure and represent academic content, and the content knowledge, which is the ‘what’ of conceptions, misconceptions and difficulties that students encounter when learning particular content, along with knowledge of the specific teaching strategies that can be used to address students’ learning needs (Hlas & Hilderbrandt
Piaget, on the other hand, sketched the broad outlines of evolution of children’s play in the first 7 years (sensorimotor and pre-operational stages). He emphasised that play is not the same as learning but provides a relaxed atmosphere in which learning can easily occur through assimilation and children can construct knowledge by taking something and making it fit to what they already know. He saw the importance of symbolic play in the formation of children’s mental representation and abstract thinking and talked about sensorimotor or physical play where children repeat a physical activity, such as swinging their feet or throwing their head back, for the sheer enjoyment of doing it. Games of construction and games with rules were also emphasised by him (Essa
The socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky stressed that the children are active seekers of knowledge and not solitary agents, and their collaboration with the social environment moulds cognition in culturally adaptive ways through social agents such as parents, teachers and peers and through other materials. He said that the social agents provide a temporary platform or support (Scaffolding) through which children can accomplish a range of tasks that are within their Zone (Zone of Proximal Development) and cannot yet handle alone. He also emphasised that play promotes abstract thought that allow children to reach beyond their actual development in their cognition and self-regulation and achieve a mental representation of social roles (Essa
Thus, the present research is informed by all the above-mentioned theories that emphasise the teachers’ PCK and content knowledge; the cognitive development of children through symbolic play, games of construction and games with rules; and the construction of culturally adaptive knowledge of children through social agents such as teachers and peers and other materials. Integration of play can maximise learning and make children learn mathematics and science in natural ways as part of everyday life and can satisfy them and can bring excitement and relief from tension and anxiety of learning difficult concepts of science and mathematics. Play can give joy and amusement and can increase the level of learning. Thus, the notion of teacher education becomes inevitable here, because teachers need to have the understanding that along with the content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge is essential, and that the use of an innovative strategy that can make teaching/learning of science and mathematics enjoyable and easy is crucial. The notion of teacher empowerment also needs to be emphasised here. If the teachers do not have the necessary education, then they need to be empowered with skills that would enable them to make their jobs more fulfilling and less difficult and help in school improvement and benefit the children. In addition, they need to develop their range of tasks as they often begin to tire of doing the same things years together, offering the same activities, which might become insufficiently interesting, and need renewal and refreshment to teach the children effectively. Thus, extending one’s professional role in order to improve one’s teaching, one’s work life and the school as a whole is very important. It helps in building up one’s professionalism and achieves more effective teaching with enjoyment. Provision of more resources and opportunities empowers teachers; thus, this research draws heavily on the concept of teacher education, teacher empowerment and the effectiveness of support materials.
Botswana is a country rich in resources; however, the ECE sector could be termed as a disadvantaged sector, which is gradually receiving attention. The government of Botswana has introduced 120 preschools to the existing primary schools only in 2014. Before that, ECE was dominated by private sector, mostly with untrained teachers, and with no national curriculum to follow, as it was also introduced as late as 2014, by the Ministry of Education and Skills Development. In addition, the preschools that are available are clustered mostly in urban and semi-urban areas. Access to ECE is scarce in remote and rural areas, especially with lower socio-economic conditions, and, if available, has an acute shortage of both human and physical resources (Bose
Preschool education is the key to increasing all children’s school readiness and to closing the achievement gap (NAEYC
This partner-driven cooperation project (2012–2014) between University of Gävle (UoG), Sweden and University of Botswana (UB) was initiated to find out the
The researchers realised that children learn in a variety of ways and wide range of teaching strategies and interactions can be effective in supporting mathematics and science learning in preschools. They understood that teaching/learning of mathematics and science concepts through play would be easier and exciting for young children and would provide the cultural flavour of Botswana. Thus, they aimed at finding out the teachers’ knowledge regarding mathematics and science concepts that are embedded in the local games played in preschools and empower them to teach science and mathematical concepts to the children in a playful manner. The specific objectives of this study were as follows:
To find out the preschool teachers’ knowledge regarding mathematics and science concepts embedded in the local games, played by preschool children
To develop a resource book of local games to empower them with skills to teach these concepts in preschools.
A qualitative approach was primarily used. The researchers chose a case study method for collecting data/information. In social sciences, a case study is a descriptive, exploratory or explanatory analysis of a person, group or event. An explanatory case study is used to explore causation in order to find underlying principles. This approach is tangible, illuminative and more concrete as compared to other kinds of researches, as it describes the process and the context of the study and focuses on a particular phenomenon, such as a situation or an event (Gay, Mills & Airasian
On the other hand, the case study approach has certain limitations such as it deals with theoretical knowledge and often fails to generalise and, hence, cannot contribute to scientific development and is difficult to summarise specific case studies (Flyvbjerg
In this study, a prospective approach was used where the criteria were established and cases fitting the criteria were included as they became available, rather than a retrospective approach where the criteria are established for selecting cases from historical records for inclusion in the study (Best & Khan
Involvement of ECE teachers was most probable and important. A purposive sampling technique was adopted, and the researchers invited teachers from all the regions of Botswana for a true representation of urban, semi-urban, rural and remote areas. They conducted two workshops during 2013-2014 in Gaborone, Botswana (Best & Khan
Twenty-five (25) preschool teachers participated from all over the country. Thirteen (13) were from private institutions, five from council, four from church and three from non-governmental organisations (NGO). Only 36% of teachers had a certificate in ECE, the rest had diploma (9) in primary education, junior certificate (2) or Cambridge O Level secondary certificate (5). One-fourth of those who held ECE qualifications were foreigners (6), but the rest were from Botswana. Almost 50% representation was from the private sector. This depicted a true picture of Botswana where the ECE teacher training centres are slowly emerging, and most of the trained teachers are expatriates, who come from neighbouring countries (Bose
The second workshop was a review workshop conducted in 2014 for 2 days, where 27 teachers participated from all over the country. Efforts were made to invite the same participants who attended the first workshop; however, only 17 of them were common. Ten (10) were from private institutions, four from council, three from church, three from NGOs, and seven were from a government preschools which were introduced recently. Only 41% of the participants were trained in ECE, five had certificates in ECE and six had diploma in IECD. The rest had diploma in Primary Education (5), PTC (2), Cambridge O Level secondary certificate (1), form-three qualifications (3) and degree qualifications such as BEd (3) and MEd (1). Of the 27, only two were foreigners and the rest were from Botswana.
Any research project involving human participants needs to follow ethical guidelines (Best & Khan
Participants playing different games.
In this study, protocols were enacted to make the participants an equal partner, by maintaining ethical and professional relationship and avoiding any power differential between them and the researchers (Christensen
During the consultative workshop, deliberations were video recorded and photographed with prior permission of the participants.
The focus group data collected through the workshops were analysed qualitatively using explanation building technique for the descriptive case study (Gay
On completion of the review workshop, an audio-visual CD of the games was presented to the participants, in order to encourage them to share some local games with each other and enhance the scientific and mathematical skills in the young ones.
During the 2-day consultative workshop, the preschool teachers identified 33 local games/rhymes that are most commonly played in preschool and are listed in
List of games and their meanings.
Number | Name of the game/rhyme | Meaning of the game/rhyme |
---|---|---|
1. | Ao Marex? Hoi hoi! | Players take turns to ride on each other’s back. |
2. | Bomme ba kati bakKati ba Kana! | A pair of players claps each other’s hands. Pairs do it at the same time. |
3. | Digogwane tse tlhano (Five Little Frogs) | Five frogs jump into a pond one by one until none is left. Game teaches subtraction. |
4. | Diketo | Players subtract and add stones during play. |
5. | Dikonyana Dikonyana! (Baby Sheep) | Playing as lambs, children identify their body parts. |
6. | Dinonyane tse pedi |
Two birds ordered gto fly away and fly back again. |
7. | Diphiri (Wolves) | Children want to go home, but wolves prey on them. |
8. | Ene ele Tshepo | A boy is milking a cow, which kicks the bucket and the milk spills on sand. |
9. | Follow the leader | Players follow the instructions of a leader to perform different actions. |
10. | French skipping | Skipping using a closed rope made from soft material such as old stockings. |
11. | Ke lephoi mokunkuru | The lamentation of a dove that is always hunted by boys. |
12. | Hoki | A bored piglet in a cage comes out, is barked at by dogs and runs back inside. |
13. | Hop scotch | Four-sided shapes drawn on the ground to denote shapes, distance and directions. |
14. | Jack and Bass | One blindfolded player locates other players using the senses of touch and hearing. |
15. | Ka bona bona selo! Eng? | The leader says that he or she can see something and others looking at the same direction ask: What is it? |
16. | Ke mang yo o tla nyalwang ke kgosi? |
Identifying the one who will be married by the chief. |
17. | Kgomo (Cow) | A young boy wonders who will milk his father’s cow because he is too young to do it himself. |
18. | Koi | Skipping. |
19. | Leboko la ngwana | A child narrated how his/her mother nurtured him/her from infanthood. |
20. | Mabele (Sorghum) | Red sorghum which needs to be pounded so that chaff is separated from the sorghum meal. |
21. | Malepa (String Patterns) | Patterns made from soft string such as wool using fingers. |
22. | Mango tree | The usefulness of a mango tree. |
23. | Mmmumpudu oa wa | A wild fruit tree which is weighed down by lots of fruits. |
24. | Mmutlanyane (Small Hare) | Rhyme about parts of a hare. |
25. | Molelo o a sha ko thabeng (Fire Is Burning at a Hill) | Burning bush on hill. |
26. | Mosadi o teng | A song about a proud woman. |
27. | Nna nka ipatlela tsala yame | Competing to run faster than the other around a circle. |
28. | Silasila Mealie Meal (Pound The Corn) | Advising a lady to pound corn lest she loses her lover. |
29. | Tamati so, so, sosososo | Performing actions using different body parts. |
30. | Terena choochoo (Chuku Chuku) | Train movement and the sound it makes when in motion. |
31. | Tlou (Elephant) | Description of body parts of an elephant. |
32. | Who stole the chicken from the cookery pot? | Passing the buck when asked who stole the chicken. |
33. | Yo mongwe o teng, le nna ke teng! | Imitating different actions by the leader. |
The research revealed that the preschool teachers did have the content knowledge, that is, the knowledge of science and mathematics concepts, and they always taught mathematics and science activities, by means of conventional method of using teaching aids to teach science and mathematics concepts inside and outside the classrooms, but never used the above-mentioned games as a via media to teach science and mathematics concepts. They did not know that mathematics and science concepts were embedded in local games and could be taught simply by playing them. For example, some said:
‘We do teach mathematics and science and plan for activities and use charts that are readily available or prepare them ourselves. But we never use games to teach these concepts.’
‘I am playing these games with children for the last 25 years and yet never understood that I am teaching them science and mathematics also at the same time.’
‘Now I realise that teaching of mathematics and science could be so simple and easy.’
‘This kind of workshop should be organised more often to empower us with knowledge and skills for teaching science and mathematics in preschools.’
In other words, the preschool teachers lacked in PCK and needed support to empower themselves with pedagogical knowledge to guide their actions in contextualised classroom settings. It was found that with support, in this case that of the workshop facilitators, the preschool teachers could identify the science and mathematics concepts that were embedded in the local games and could understand how those concepts could be taught while playing the games following certain guidelines. In the game
Application of Schulman’s theory of combining content knowledge and the pedagogical knowledge, Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theory of construction of knowledge and cognitive development through play and acquisition of knowledge through social agents in a culturally approved way is vivid here and can well explain the outcome of this research. Evidence of teacher empowerment through support endorsed the development of a resource book as a support material for the ECE teachers of Botswana.
The preschool teachers opined that each game/rhyme needs to be packaged with a picture that depicts the game in a symbolic way, accompanied with preparatory guidelines, steps that describe how to play the games, essential rules to be observed, the science and mathematics concepts that could be taught while playing or singing and a few probing questions to make the children understand the science and mathematics concepts. Among the 33 identified local games, following are a few examples that depict how science and mathematics concepts feature in them:
It is the name of a well-known traditional wild fruit. When it has borne a lot of fruit, its branches hang down. The rhyme teaches children about this popular traditional, local fruit and at the same time about the falling of branches with fruits because of heaviness and swinging branches. After singing the song, the teacher asks the children a few probing questions regarding swinging in different directions, light and heaviness, wild or home-grown fruits, parts of the tree, etc. All these lead to the understanding of science and mathematics concepts.
The rhyme is about the manual pounding of corn using two stones. This was a traditional practice before the advent of milling machines, which children learn about when playing the game. Along with it are the concepts of texture, particle, size, big and small, which teach mathematics and science.
In this rhyme, the dove complains about young boys who usually kill the species of dove. Traditionally, young boys used to hunt birds, kill and eat them. In this rhyme, there is a mention of the dove’s old age and the boy’s young age of, which could be used to teach the number concept.
An example of how 33 local games are packaged in the resource book is shown in
A local game as presented in the resource book.
Research showed that preschool teachers of Botswana hardly ever provided science and mathematics experiences in preschools. The aim of the research was to find out the preschool teachers’ PCK of mathematics and science, that is, their content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge and to develop support material, a resource book, by providing guidance to teach these concepts using local games and rhymes. It emerged that the teachers had content knowledge but somewhat lacked in pedagogical knowledge. The preschool teacher used conventional methods of teaching the content, by using teaching aids. They never realised that the games/rhymes, which the children partake every day, could be utilised for teaching science and mathematics concepts that are embedded in them. They lacked in pedagogical knowledge and thus required support material to comprehend that the use of play/rhymes, the innovative method of teaching instead of the conventional ones, is effective to deliver difficult contents of science and mathematics to preschool children. This endorsed the provision of a resource book to empower the preschool teachers with the new knowledge, skills and competencies. The awareness of combining the content knowledge and the pedagogical knowledge enabled them to develop a resource book with 33 local games/rhymes, packaged with embedded science and mathematics concepts, illustrations, steps, rules and probing questions.
It could be implied that the use of such a resource book with local games and rhymes can give the teachers a great start on teaching mathematics and science in preschools and make the children relive their cultural values and beliefs. Through such a resource book, the preschool teachers can help children understand, through enjoyment, the embedded science and mathematical concepts that are difficult to grasp otherwise, prepare them for formal schooling and bridge the achievement gap in mathematics and science at subsequent levels. An inference could be drawn out from this research that all the preschool teachers in Botswana could benefit from this resource book and build-up knowledge, understanding, skills, competencies and attitudes related to teaching of mathematics and science in preschools. However, conducting a survey research involving a larger sample is necessary in order to generalise the research outcomes and also to assess the impact on the teachers’ knowledge and classroom practices. Addition of few more local games/rhymes to the resource book could be considered, as per the contextual requirements.
This article is an outcome of the partner-driven cooperation project (2012 to 2014) between the University of Gävle and UB, in the area of Mathematics and Science Education in ECE. The project was titled ‘PCK and SMK in Mathematics and Science in Early Childhood Education’. It was jointly funded and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and ORD, UB.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
K.B. was the coordinator of the project PCK and SMK in Mathematics and Science Education in ECE and organised the workshop for development of the Resource Book. She facilitated the sessions during the workshop. She wrote the Resource Book with the co-author. She made major contribution to the development of the manuscript in terms of writing, analysing and interpreting data, organising the content, and adding and formatting the text and pictures. G.S. was a facilitator during the workshops; wrote the book with the other author and translated the vernacular text in the book to English. She also carried out part of search for literature, referencing and analysing data for the article.