Analysis of mathematics teaching programmes at preschool age based on activity theory (Análisis de programas de enseñanza de las matemáticas en la edad preescolar desde la teoría de la actividad)

Abstract

The teaching of mathematics is a topic of concern in the fields of pedagogy, psychology and neuroscience. Many primary and secondary school students show little interest in studying mathematics, which is accompanied by poor marks, low school success rates and learning disabilities. It is possible to think that these difficulties are general throughout the population and not related only to pathological developmental conditions and disabilities. Within psychology, the cultural-historical approach and activity theory allow us to analyse and characterize the content of educational methods. This study analyses three proposals for teaching mathematics in the third year of preschool education in Mexico according to type of orientation, the concepts taught, the actions the teacher does with the students and the classroom communication. It discusses the need to reconsider the content of educational work in preschool institutions in order to guarantee children’s optimal level of preparation for the conceptual learning of mathematics in primary school.

Mapping Neuroscience in the Field of Education through a Bibliometric Analysis

“…Exploring the cognitive characteristics of children’s brains can help in conducting educational work better and help children develop better academically. Moreover, skills remain the focus of most scholars’ attention [ 111 , 112 ]. Discussing neuroscience curriculum reform for medical students has become a highly specialized issue, although the subject of research in NIE is not very popular.…”

Intellectual actions online as preparation for learning of mathematics: cultural historical methodology (Acciones intelectuales en línea como preparación para el aprendizaje matemático: metodología histórico-cultural)

“…Es importante destacar que no se realizan trabajos específicos en los centros preescolares y de primaria para la introducción y formación gradual de acciones simbólicas y lógicas (Solovieva, 2022;Solovieva et al, 2021). Según los programas oficiales de la enseñanza matemática en el primer curso de primaria, los niños proceden a contar objetos externos uno a uno y a realizar operaciones aritméticas elementales en un cuaderno.…”

“…En nuestra opinión, la mejor opción es al comienzo de la escuela primaria, de forma que la actividad preparatoria predominante en la etapa preescolar es el juego mediante actividades comunicativas (Elkonin, 1980). Algunas publicaciones previas han abordado los objetivos, la estructura y el contenido de esta actividad (González, 2021; Nisskaya, 2018; Sidneva, 2020; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021a) y señalan una fuerte necesidad psicológica de hacer uso del juego con roles sociales como actividad rectora en la etapa preescolar. Así pues, el inicio de la edad escolar puede considerarse adecuado para la introducción de acciones intelectuales que hagan uso de conceptos matemáticos.…”

“…It is important to stress that there is no specific work in pre-school institutions and in primary school for introduction and gradual formation of symbolic and logical actions (Solovieva et al, 2022(Solovieva et al, , 2021. According to official programmes of teaching of mathematics in the first grade of primary school, children continue to count external objects one by one and to fulfil elementary arithmetic operations in notebooks.…”

“…In our opinion, the better choice is the beginning of primary school, so the leading activity of pre-school age is playing communicative activity (Elkonin, 1980). Previous publications were dedicated to the objectives, structure and content of this activity (González, 2021; Nisskaya, 2018; Sidneva, 2020; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021a), pointing out a strong psychological necessity of the use of playing with social roles as a predominant activity of pre-school age. The beginning of the school age should be considered as the period of the introduction of intellectual actions with the use of mathematical concepts.…”