Fractions in kindergarten

V prispevku predstavljamo področje začetnih konceptov razumevanja racionalnih števil v vrtcu oz. vpeljevanje delov celot v vrtec. Na osnovi literature ugotavljamo, da je razvijanje zgodnjih konceptov ulomkov smiselno že v predšolskem obdobju, čeprav slovenski kurikul za vrtce te vsebine ne podpira. Pripravili smo nekatere kontekstualizirane naloge, ki so vključevale geometrijski in merljivi model ulomkov ter so se v tujini že izkazale kot učinkovite. V raziskavi, v katero smo vključili predšolske otroke, stare 5 let, so otroci naloge reševali individualno ob podpori odrasle osebe. Zanimalo nas je, kakšne so razlike pri reševanju nalog o delih celote med otroki, ki so imeli predhodne izkušnje z deli celot, in otroki, ki so se s to vsebino prvič srečali na končnem preverjanju en mesec po izvedenem eksperimentu z eksperimentalno skupino. Podatki, ki smo jih zbrali s pomočjo opazovalnega lista, so pokazali, da so otroci, ki so vsebino že poznali, naloge reševali brez večjih težav. Otroci iz eksperimentalne skupine so bili na končnem preverjanju sicer uspešnejši od otrok iz kontrolne skupine, ki so se s problemi spoprijemali prvič, kljub temu pa so tudi otroci iz kontrolne skupine prikazali dovolj znanja, da lahko sklepamo, da so bile naloge pripravljene primerno njihovi razvojni stopnji.This article presents the initial concepts of understanding rational numbers in kindergarten, and the introduction of fractions in kindergarten. Based on relevant literature, we have established that the development of early concepts of fractions is reasonable in the pre-school period already, although the Slovenian kindergarten curriculum does not foresee it. We have prepared some contextualized tasks involving geometric and measurable model of fractions, which have already proven effective elsewhere. For the purpose of research, children were asked to solve those tasks individually with the support of adults. The research involved preschool children at the age of five. We were interested to discover the differences in solving fractions tasks between children who had previous experience with fractions and those who first came into contact with this content on the day of the retention test, that is, a month later. The information we obtained through observation sheets have shown that children who were already familiar with the content solved the test tasks without major difficulties. Thus, the children in the experimental group performed better in their final examination than the children in the control group, who were confronted with fractions for the first time. However, the children in the control group also demonstrated sufficient knowledge, so we can conclude that the tasks prepared were appropriate with regard to their developmental stage