PRE-SERVICE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ COMPETENCE REGARDING GEOMETRICAL SHAPES

Geometrical competence is useful in everyday life and in many workspaces, thus developing this competence should be one of the main goals of Mathematics Education. Geometry develops students’ spatial ability, logical reasoning skills, and the ability to solve real-world problems in which geometrical terminology and properties occur. By solving geometrical problems pupils’ problem solving competence is also developed. Primary school curricula lays the foundation of the geometrical competence, pupils learn geometrical notions and properties by exploring their environment. Thus it is very important that primary school teachers have a good base in elementary Geometry. In many cases Geometry is neglected in primary school, because teachers are not confident in their geometrical competence, or they don’t have enough methodological preparation for teaching this subject efficiently, or they have a negative attitude towards Geometry. The article presents a research on Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy specialization students’ geometrical competence, their level on Hiele’s geometrical thinking scale as regarding geometrical shapes. Students have been asked to solve a problem sheet with geometrical problems, and their solutions were qualitatively analyzed. The results show that this competence need to be developed, thus we suggest some computer softwares which can be used during Geometry classes, and some concrete examples how to integrate these softwares in the lessons. Some of these examples could be used also in primary school. Using computer during Geometry classes not only helps students to explore some geometrical notions and properties, but also makes Geometry more interesting for them, so their attitude towards Geometry could be changed.