Graduate Research Papers

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Graduate Research Paper (UNI Access Only)

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to reflect upon the benefits of play within mathematics in a preschool classroom. As a preschool teacher, I noticed a shift in my classroom, which is having more 3-year old students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in a 4-year old classroom. As I identified the problem that I had in my preschool classroom, I began to implement more developmentally appropriate play-based math games to attempt to support all students while giving them some play-based learning opportunities within mathematics. I implemented these games 4 days a week. Before starting these games, I formally collected data using the Teaching Strategies GOLD (Teaching Strategies, Inc., 2010) math objectives. Throughout the project, I would informally do dipstick checks to see how the students were learning. As a result these games supported the students' growth within mathematics, by increasing their counting skills as well as their number and shape knowledge. In conclusion, as I move forward in my career, I would like to continue to implement play opportunities into my daily schedule for students and would like to continue to see how we can look at implementing this into other grades as well as other academic areas.

Year of Submission

2025

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Allison Barness

Date Original

2025

Object Description

1 PDF file (28 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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