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Young children's concept of shape : Van Hiele visualization level of geometric thinking
Author
Ho, Siew Yin
Supervisor
Edge, Douglas
Abstract
Geometry is a vital part of many mathematics programs. There is a renewed focus on geometry in today's mathematics curriculum and much of this focus has been on geometric learning of young children.
The van Hiele model of geometric thought is an internationally recognised theory used to identify students' level of geometric maturity. It also suggests ways for teachers to guide their students progress through the van Hiele levels. Although this theory is currently applied in the development of many geometry curricula, a consistent pattern of development to base instructional geometry programs has yet been established. Most studies on the van Hiele model of geometric thought has been on adolescents, and as such, there is not much data or information on young children's development in terms of the van Hiele levels of geometric thought. One study, "Young Children's Concepts of Shape", by Clements, Swaminathan, Hannibal, and Sarama (1999) attempted to add to the literature.
The purpose of this study was then, in the light of the results of the study by Clements et al. (1999), to determine the criteria used by Primary One and Primary Two children in Singapore to distinguish members of a class of shapes, namely circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. It also aimed to find out whether there was evidence of a prerecognitive level before the van Hiele Level O (Visualization). As well, the study attempted to make a comparison of the results obtained between the six-year-old American children in Clements et al.'s study and Primary One Singaporean children.
The subjects of the study consisted of 40 students from a neighbourhood school. A total of 20 Primary One students, aged 6.5 to 7 years, and 20 Primary Two students, aged 7.5 to 8 years participated in this study. They were studied after completion of their respective geometry units as stated in the Singapore geometry curriculum.
The research design involved firstly, the identification and pencil-and-paper selection of shapes (namely circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and embedded circles and squares) in collections of shapes on paper; and secondly one-to-one clinical interviews to clarify further and understand the criteria used by children in making their selections.
Both the pencil-and-paper selections made by the Primary One and Primary Two children and the verbal responses given by these children during the interview were analyzed quantitatively to determine their criteria in distinguishing members of a class of shapes, namely circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. The children's verbal responses were coded using the codes used in Clements et al.'s (1999) study. It was found that these Singaporean children did not only rely on visual matching to distinguish shapes but were also capable of recognizing and stating simple properties of familiar shapes.
Clements et al.'s (1999) study claimed that there was evidence in the existence of a prerecognitive level before van Hiele Level O (visual level). This study also suggests evidence of such a prerecognitive level.
There is similarity in certain aspects of both the American and Singaporean children's shape recognition. Although the Singapore Primary One children performed slightly better than the six-year-old American children in three out of five shape-selection tasks, there is however no significance difference between the Singaporean data and American data.
The van Hiele model of geometric thought is an internationally recognised theory used to identify students' level of geometric maturity. It also suggests ways for teachers to guide their students progress through the van Hiele levels. Although this theory is currently applied in the development of many geometry curricula, a consistent pattern of development to base instructional geometry programs has yet been established. Most studies on the van Hiele model of geometric thought has been on adolescents, and as such, there is not much data or information on young children's development in terms of the van Hiele levels of geometric thought. One study, "Young Children's Concepts of Shape", by Clements, Swaminathan, Hannibal, and Sarama (1999) attempted to add to the literature.
The purpose of this study was then, in the light of the results of the study by Clements et al. (1999), to determine the criteria used by Primary One and Primary Two children in Singapore to distinguish members of a class of shapes, namely circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. It also aimed to find out whether there was evidence of a prerecognitive level before the van Hiele Level O (Visualization). As well, the study attempted to make a comparison of the results obtained between the six-year-old American children in Clements et al.'s study and Primary One Singaporean children.
The subjects of the study consisted of 40 students from a neighbourhood school. A total of 20 Primary One students, aged 6.5 to 7 years, and 20 Primary Two students, aged 7.5 to 8 years participated in this study. They were studied after completion of their respective geometry units as stated in the Singapore geometry curriculum.
The research design involved firstly, the identification and pencil-and-paper selection of shapes (namely circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and embedded circles and squares) in collections of shapes on paper; and secondly one-to-one clinical interviews to clarify further and understand the criteria used by children in making their selections.
Both the pencil-and-paper selections made by the Primary One and Primary Two children and the verbal responses given by these children during the interview were analyzed quantitatively to determine their criteria in distinguishing members of a class of shapes, namely circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. The children's verbal responses were coded using the codes used in Clements et al.'s (1999) study. It was found that these Singaporean children did not only rely on visual matching to distinguish shapes but were also capable of recognizing and stating simple properties of familiar shapes.
Clements et al.'s (1999) study claimed that there was evidence in the existence of a prerecognitive level before van Hiele Level O (visual level). This study also suggests evidence of such a prerecognitive level.
There is similarity in certain aspects of both the American and Singaporean children's shape recognition. Although the Singapore Primary One children performed slightly better than the six-year-old American children in three out of five shape-selection tasks, there is however no significance difference between the Singaporean data and American data.
Date Issued
2002
Call Number
QA135.6 Ho
Date Submitted
2002