NUMBER CONCEPT AND NUMERICAL INTELLIGENCE IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
The acquisition of the concept of numbers during kindergarten, as children in the younger age group have difficulties in acquiring an abstract concept such as numbers because they are more prone to understand concrete concepts. In all the activities we plan to teach these children, we should benefit from learning so that children can learn the concept of number.
Mothers and fathers often say “my child knows how to count” and may not give enough attention to this issue. There are parents who witnessed that their children can count up to 10, 50 or even 100, and their “If my child does not know the concept of number enough, how can he count these numbers?” I can hear you asking. But you shouldn’t count that counting never shows that he has learned the concept of number correctly. In their kindergarten years, many children can count the order of numbers very well for memorizing data, not because they really learned to count numbers.
In order for the child to learn the concept of number, it must be able to do activities such as matching, classification, and ranking. When teaching numbers to kindergarten children, these three skills are prioritized and given the opportunity to develop these skills. Help them learn the concept of number by later working with children who develop these skills.
Studies on the Concept of Number
• Finding the match of the number drawn as a model among numbers from 1 to 10 mixedly arranged
• Finding the spoken number among numbers from 1 to 10 in a mixed order
• Finding the number shown among the numbers from 1 to 10 in a mixed order
• Asking the child to count from 1 to 10 with verbal directions
• Counting between given numbers (such as 5-9)
• Counting down from the given number
Match different numbers of objects
• Saying which of the two written numbers (such as 5 and 9) is less or more
• Line up a set of numbers, read and ask to show the desired number
• Count two given groups of objects and determine if they match the given number
• Count two given groups of objects and tell which one is less or more
• Saying which number is greater than given by a group of objects
• Requesting matching by giving object groups and numbers
• Saying the least (most) of the three object groups by counting the objects
• Giving a number, asking him to show the appropriate number of object groups to that number.