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Predictors of numeracy skills giftedness in young children: Perceptions of Botswana early childhood practitioners

Giftedness in numeracy skills in young children is a phenomenon that is not always visible and easily identifiable. However, these numeracy skills should be recognised in the early years of pre-school education for adequate enrichment on curriculum and pedagogy in teaching young children. Numeracy skills in young children at pre-schools involves the ability to apply mathematical concepts in all areas of life, understanding numbers, counting, solving number problems, measuring, sorting, noticing patterns, adding and subtracting numbers. This study investigated predictors that should be readily visible to notice in preschool children, who possess giftedness in numeracy skills. In order to establish these predictors, a questionnaire was administered to a random sample of one hundred (100) pre-school teachers from twenty (20) pre-schools in Gaborone. The questionnaire consisted of twenty five (25) items on four Likert scale (Strongly Disagree SD; Disagree D; Agree A; Strongly Agree SA). The pre-school teachers’ responses were analysed using factor analysis (available on SPSS Computer package). The principle factor analysis with iteration and varimax rotation method was used to identify the main predictors of giftedness in numeracy skills of young children, and ten (10) factors emerged as predictors of numeracy giftedness in young children, which should have implications on the curriculum and pedagogy in teaching pre-school young children numeracy concepts.