The Swedish curriculum for preschool (Lpfö 98, 2010, p. 5, 6, 9) emphasizes that teaching and learning should be made in a joyful and lustful manor. But it does not explicitly express how this should (or could) be conducted. One of my main motives with this paper is to examine one plausible interpretation how to combine joy and learning. Out of some theories that I have come across in the litterateur when studying to become a preschool teacher I decided to do a study for further examination, both theoretically and empirically. The theories that I based this study on are: radical aesthetics, Lev Vygotskijs theories on imagination and creativity, and theories concerning motivation and emotional attachment. My basic motives and questions are presented in the context that mathematical thinking is elemental for further intellectual development: Is it beneficial to connect emotions and imagination with aesthetic experiences to help obtain mathematical understanding? Mathematics is abstract. So can abstract practices through aesthetics help to develop the abstract thinking required for mathematical development? These questions led me to construct a methodology based on two separate methods to present geometry through tangram. The first I refer to as ordinary and formal, geometrical figures were plainly presented with their mathematical terms - this was used as a control. The other had the same terms as the previous, but also had the aesthetic elements of a saga to trigger emotion and ones imagination and fantasy. These were simultaneously used in a preschool on two groups of 4-5 year olds during a period of three weeks; this to see if any results could be made out of the difference of the two methods. Along with this I have also examined previous research and theories that address these subjects to see if connections could be made concerning my basic assumptions. Further the study also tries to interpret what defines aesthetics and if there is an interpretation that suits this study. I find that the results, both theoretically och empirically, shows that there is reason to further investigate these connections and methods. It appears to be some advantages with didactics from an aesthetic preset. The study is however way too small to show causal relations and it needs to be further developed for a more profound scientific evaluation and added accurate representation of the questions the study holds at hand.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-29770 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | John, Lindén |
| Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Lärarutbildningen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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