| Abstract [eng] |
Teaching Mathematical Reasoning using Virtual Escape Rooms in Preschool Education is a relevant topic in the context of contemporary education, where increasing attention is given to knowledge acquisition and the development of higher-order thinking skills. In mathematics education, obtaining the correct answer, the ability to justify solutions, explain the reasoning process, and apply knowledge in new situations are considered important. The preschool period is particularly significant for the development of cognitive abilities; however, educational practice often places greater emphasis on procedural actions and obtaining the correct answer, while the reasoning process itself receives less attention. This limits children’s ability to argue, analyse, and solve problems independently, highlighting the need for educational solutions that would purposefully develop mathematical reasoning through active and engaging activities. The novelty of the topic is related to the application of virtual escape rooms for the development and investigation of mathematical reasoning in preschool-aged children. Although the use of digital tools in education is rapidly expanding, there is still a lack of studies systematically analysing how virtual escape rooms can contribute to the development of mathematical reasoning in preschool education. Based on the analysis of scientific literature, mathematical reasoning in this study was divided into four activity areas: understanding causal relationships and inference, problem representation and information selection, application of logical relationships in problem-solving, and organisation of mathematical structures. These areas served as the basis for the development of the educational solution and the organisation of the research. Considering these assumptions, the aim of the research was to reveal the teaching of mathematical reasoning through the application of virtual escape rooms in preschool education. The object of the research was the development of mathematical reasoning in preschool education. In order to achieve the aim of the research, the following objectives were set: to analyse the theoretical context of mathematical reasoning in preschool education, to justify the research methodology, and to evaluate changes in mathematical reasoning within a group of children. The study employed scientific literature analysis, a quasi-experiment, activity observation, as well as qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods. The research involved 47 preschool-aged children from two educational institutions. A virtual escape room-based educational solution with tasks of analogous structure was developed for the study in order to assess changes in mathematical reasoning. The research results revealed that virtual escape rooms created conditions for active children’s engagement in the educational process, encouraged logical reasoning, problem-solving, and the application of previously acquired experience in new situations. It was found that repeated solving of analogous tasks positively influenced children’s ability to understand task completion principles, select relevant information more accurately, and solve tasks independently while reducing the number of random trial-and-error attempts. The results of the research may be applied in preschool education practice when developing digital educational activities and integrating game-based learning into mathematics education. The thesis consists of an introduction, theoretical, methodological and empirical parts, conclusions, references, and appendices. Keywords: mathematical reasoning, preschool education, virtual escape rooms, digital games, logical-mathematical thinking. |
