Development of a Set of Computational Mathematics Activities to Mathematical Abilities for Early Childhood Children

Abstract

This research aimed to develop a set of mathematical thinking activity packages to enhance mathematical abilities in early childhood education. The specific objectives were as follows: (1) To study the results of developing mathematical thinking activity packages designed to improve mathematical abilities in young children. And (2) To compare the mathematical abilities of young children before and after using the mathematical thinking activity packages. The sample group consisted of 28 children aged 4–5 years, who were enrolled in Kindergarten 2/1 during the second semester of the 2024 academic year at Ban San Kamphaeng School, under the Chiang Mai Primary Educational Service Area Office 1. The participants were selected through cluster random sampling. The research instruments included: Five sets of mathematical thinking activity manuals designed to enhance mathematical abilities in young children, comprising a total of 30 activities. A mathematics ability assessment in the form of a pictorial test, in which young children were required to select the correct image in response to each of the 10 items. This assessment was administered both before and after the implementation of the activities as a pretest and posttest. The statistical methods employed for data analysis included content validity, mean, standard deviation, and t-test analysis. The objective of this study was to develop mathematical thinking activity packages that promote mathematical abilities in young children. The findings revealed that the developed activity packages met the efficiency criteria of 80/80. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) The mathematical thinking activity packages demonstrated an efficiency level exceeding the established criteria, with an E₁ score of 94.62 and an E₂ score of 89.80, both surpassing the 80/80 benchmark. And (2) A comparison of the pretest and posttest scores showed a statistically significant improvement in mathematical abilities at the .01 level. The standard deviation before the intervention was 2.19, while after the intervention, it increased to 14.44. The research findings indicate that the developed activity packages effectively enhanced the mathematical abilities of young children.