Effects of creative play activities on early mathematics performance among preschoolers / Chong Chai Fung

Chong , Chai Fung (2021) Effects of creative play activities on early mathematics performance among preschoolers / Chong Chai Fung. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of creative play activities on early mathematics performance among preschool children’s number operations in addition and subtraction skills. The sample consisted of 60 six years old children from two different Sekolah Kebangsaan preschools who were selected to participate in this study. 30 children from Preschool A were placed in the Experimental group and 30 children from Preschool B were placed in the Control group. The research instruments consisted pre-test and post-test addition and subtraction questions, 10 lessons of creative play activities on early mathematics in addition and subtraction games for the Experimental group and normal teaching in mathematics for the Control group. The research was conducted using a quasi-experimental design. Creative play activities had significantly affected the performance in early mathematics among the Experimental group children in addition and subtraction skills as revealed in the post-test results. Paired-samples t-test for both addition (p<.000) and subtraction (p<.001) showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test. The findings of the SPANOVA multivariate test showed there was a significant interaction effect for both the Control and Experimental groups in addition (p<.024) and subtraction (p<.041). The findings indicated that 10 lessons of creative play activities in early mathematics in addition and subtraction games conducted for the Experimental group were more effective than the normal teaching in mathematics conducted for the Control group. Moreover, creative play activities had also indirectly enhanced creativity, imagination, Higher Orders Thinking Skills (HOTS), problem solving skills and social skills among preschool children. It is hoped that the findings from this research will be used as a guidance to the preschool teachers. The various creative games in addition and subtraction can be used for future implementation in teaching and learning in a systematic way instead of using worksheets for the preschool children to guarantee a high quality of achievement in early mathematics education in future.

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