Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

This study describes a diagnostic test that helps identify the specialized content knowledge preschool teachers from Colombia and Costa Rica have regarding the development of children’s mathematical thinking. It follows the elaboration process of the diagnostic tool. The diagnosis is part of a phenomenological research design, with the aim of generating a teacher-training proposal; that combines practices for the development of mathematical thinking and visual arts, through a cultural approach to pre-Columbian art, which impacts the initial and continuous learning process of the Preschool Education program. The plan is developed between university institutions of Colombia and Costa Rica through a transdisciplinary approach that involves a teacher training pilot program. For such purpose, the design, construction, and validation of a tool enables being aware of what teachers know about children’s mathematical thinking processes, and the development of learning patterns and regularities. The tool is a questionnaire, which covers four dimensions, with a Likert scale, which was applied to a population of teachers; the analysis and implication of the results are included in this report. The foregoing is a way of consolidating knowledge, since the literature in the area indicates that research on the practices of identifying patterns and regularities at the initial education level is in an early stage, while in the visual arts these identification practices can be a constant.