Learning of logical-mathematical contents through fairy tales in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The adaptation and use of stories provide a comprehensive scenario of the content, both from a cognitive and emotional point of view. The aim of this research is to show how reading stories can be used in the early learning of mathematics. In order to do so we describe and assess the effectiveness in the classroom, using learning opportunities that use tales scenes as a learning tool. The design is quasi-experimental with a quantitative approach focusing on a control group, containing a sample of students from Kindergarten. The target group worked in the classroom with resources taken from an adaptation of the story of the Ugly Duckling, while the control group worked on the same contents without any didactic modification. The results of the intervention, evaluated using an individual tool, TEMT (Test of Early Mathematics Assessment), initially show homogeneity of the two groups (target and control) and improvements after the intervention in the level of mathematical proficiency in the target group. No differences by age are observed, and very few differences by gender, only in some variables, showing a better performance of the girls.