NickyR Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 (edited) Hi all, I am just in the process of completing my last assignment for my foundation degree and was wondering if I you guys could help me out. I decided to be brave and conduct my research on Early Years Mathematics. The reason I chose this subject was because I recently attended a managers meeting organised by our LA and they mentioned that the statistics from school transition forms show that attainment levels for PSRN is still falling behind other subject areas. The way we are expected to complete this action research project is to present it as a proposal and not actually do the action research. Apparently Bournemouth Uni are worried that if we carry out the research this could cause potential harm to the children. Anyway, I do have to add my proposed questionnaires to my appendix. I would like to find out how confident my parents and practitioners are regarding mathematics and enhancing the children's mathematical development. However, I'm really unsure how to approach this in a questionnaire format. Do I sneak one particular question in the middle of some less intimidating questions? Or do I fully focus on the subject for the whole questionnaire? I just don't know. Furthermore, I'm not too sure how to word my questions........I don't feel that I can come out and ask something like 'How confident are you when engaging in mathematical activities with your child?' Any idea's for this would be gratefully received. Many thanks in advance Nicky Edited April 6, 2011 by NickyR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I haven't got the research background to be clear about the nest way to word questions. You coud ask if they enjoyed maths, if they think their child enjoys maths ( maybe 1-5 scale) You could ask them to list the maths activities that they do with their child, or activities they feel have a maths element to them. What do they define as maths? What resources they use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I was wondering if rather than using the term Maths/Mathematics, which for some parents may be misleading you could couch it in terms of numeracy/number work/activities which include numbers/counting. Some parents/carers may take Maths as meaning equations and geometry. You could also include some examples, for the parents/carers, so that they have an idea of the kind of activities that they may be doing, but not realise that they are Maths. Hope this makes sense, I sometimes have ideas but have difficulty explaining them, the sound so clear in my head. Fiona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lou73 Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I would guess if your research focus is maths then most of your questions want to be based around that. Could you give parents a list of activities that promote numeracy skills i.e. baking, jigsaws, sorting, etc and a series of boxes to tick to see if they believe these activities develop mathematical development. Hope that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I've just been on a fab maths course with BEAM (Be A Mathematician) and it really helped me to focus on the fact that we do so much maths type activities without even realising it in early years. That might be something to look at with your parents as it could be they don't realise that their children are "doing maths" in everyday activities, and I know from my experience it could also help staff focus on what counts for assessment in maths activities too. BEAM may be able to provide some support too - it's worth an ask anyway. http://www.beam.co.uk/index.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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