Secondary abstract: |
The thesis discusses the implementation of mathematical outdoor activities in connection with other fields, mainly with the natural sciences. The natural environment can be used as a learning environment that is rich in natural learning materials, such as forest fruits, autumn leaves, flowering meadows, forests as a whole, water resources etc. There are presented some possible ways of implementing the activities in three types of environment: a meadow, a forest and its surroundings, and near a water source. My focus during the planning stage was on four mathematical contents: relationships and relations, where I paid a special attention to the relation "is equal to", patterns, numbers, counting and sorting. I planned my activities before the implementation of the outdoor activities. They were based on the results of the successful completion of four tasks that every individual in a group had to solve
The first part of the thesis covers mathematics as it is outlined in the kindergarten curriculum and the integration of mathematics with other fields. Theoretically it is presented the outdoor learning. In the empirical part of the thesis, there are presented six outdoor activities which I carried out with older children in the kindergarten “Sonček” in Šmarjeta. I did a research on how the activities, performed outdoors, affect the individual's level of acquired knowledge. After the completion of mathematical outdoor activities, I defined the children's progress, with the help of four tasks that every individual solved. The tasks showed the progress of majority of children in knowing specific mathematical contents. |