Effectiveness of the Big Math for Little Kids Program on the Early Mathematics Skills of Children with Risk Group

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of Big Math for Little Kids (BMLK) Program on the early mathematics skills of children with lower socioeconomic level. The participants of the study consist of between 60-72 months of aged children with lower socioeconomic level recruited to kindergartens of Ministry of National Education from Turkey in Diyarbakır in the 2018-2019 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 40 children with above mentioned characteristics. Of these, 20 were assigned to the experimental group and 20 to the control group. Two schools were selected for experimental and control group, and the study was conducted after selecting ten children in a class of each school. In the study pretest-posttest with control group experimental model was used. The data of the study were collected through the Tests of Early Language Development Test (TELD-3) to determine children with adequate language skills of their own age group, and Test of Early Mathematical Ability (TEMA-3) to assess early mathematical development of children. As a result, BMLK program was determined to be effective in the mathematics development of children with lower socioeconomic level.

Keywords

• early mathematics
• early intervention
• preschool period
• big maths for little kids