The effect of integrated activities applied to 5 year students on the science and mathematics skills of children

In this study, the effects of integrated activities on the science and mathematics skills of 5-year-old children in pre-school education were examined. In the study, children's basic process skills were determined as the dependent variable, and integrated science-mathematics skills were determined as the independent variable.The study group of this research consists of 5-year-old children who were educated in the Cumayeri Kindergarten in Düzce province, Cumayeri district in the 2021-2022 academic year and who had never received pre-school education before, and were selected by impartial assignment. A total of 40 children, 20 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group, participated in the study.As a data collection tool in the research, a personal information form containing demographic information about the family and the child and measuring the scientific process skill levels of preschool children were used. The Basic Skills Scale for Preschool Students was used. The data collected from the scale were analyzed in the SPSS package program. Nonparametric tests were used in the analysis of the data. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was used to compare the pretest and posttest mean scores of the children in the experimental group and the pretest and posttest mean scores of the children in the control group. Mann Whitney U test was used to find the mean score difference between the pretest and posttest results of the experimental group and the control group. Again, Mann Whitney U tests were used to compare the difference between the average scores of basic science process skills of the children in the experimental and control groups, according to the variables. As a result of the research, it was understood that the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the students in the experimental and control groups for basic process skills was significant. When the difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group students who gained basic process skills through integrated science-mathematics activities was examined, it was seen that the difference scores were in favor of the posttest (z=3,829, p<0.05). This result shows that integrated science-mathematics activities are effective in helping children acquire basic process skills. Looking at the results of this study, it was seen that planned and intensively applied integrated science-mathematics activities contributed positively to children's science process skills. It is envisaged that the science-mathematics activities applied according to the MEB Preschool Education Program will be more diversified and intensified in gaining and advancing scientific process skills.