The effect of number sense education program supported by Web 2.0 tools on number sense development of first grade primary school students'

This study aims to investigate the impact of a number sense training program, augmented with Web 2.0 tools, on the development of number sense in first-grade primary school students. The research was conducted with first graders from primary schools in Afyonkarahisar İhsaniye district, under the Ministry of National Education, during the 2022-2023 academic year. These students were typically developing and had no prior exposure to specialized number programs. The sample comprised schools with a minimum of 20 first-grade students. A total of 44 students participated, divided into two groups: 23 students in the experimental group from A Primary School 1-A class, and 21 students in the control group from A Primary School 1-B class. A quasi-experimental design, employing quantitative research methods, was utilized for this study. Data collection was carried out using two primary tools: the "Number Sense Assessment Tool" developed by Jordan et al. (2012) and adapted for Turkish first-grade students by Uyanık Aktulun (2019), and a "General Information Form" created by the researcher to gather personal and familial information about the participants. The intervention involved the researcher teaching the experimental group for 12 weeks using the Web 2.0 tools-supported number sense training program, while the control group received standard curriculum instruction. The efficacy of the training was assessed using the "Mann Whitney U Test" for independent groups and the "Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test" for dependent groups to analyze the significance of differences in test scores. Results indicated that the experimental group exhibited statistically significant improvements in their post-test scores compared to their pre-test scores across various sub-dimensions and the overall Number Sense Assessment Tool, particularly in number recognition, number comparisons, non-verbal calculation, story problems, and number combinations (p<.05). However, no significant difference was noted in counting skills (p>.05). Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the post-test scores of the experimental and control groups in the assessed sub-dimensions and the overall tool (p<.05). In conclusion, the study demonstrates that educational processes supplemented with Web 2.0 tools can positively influence number sense skills in young learners. Based on these findings, the study recommends further exploration into the integration of Web 2.0 tools in mathematics education, particularly focusing on number sense, across different grade levels. Keywords: Primary school, mathematics, number sense, number sense skills, Web 2.0 tools.