Pre-school Teachers Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Informal Geometry: A Case of In-Service University Students

Pre-school pedagogical content Knowledge is increasingly taking a centre stage in teaching children in Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres. As such, this research examined pre-school teachers pedagogical content knowledge for teaching informal geometry in a quest to find out what early childhood informal geometry education was, design a degree course in early childhood hood education, where informal geometry is in early childhood education, construct and operationalise of the centre of excellence where informal geometry is concerned, come up with a syllabus and activities that teachers could be using to teach informal geometry. The purpose of this study was to establish the kind of geometry the students had come with before embarking on teaching. This was done so, so as to align the researchers teaching philosophy of teaching students in a similar way they are expected to teach the children. In the early childhood curriculum, there should be a connection between informal and formal geometry. The research was anchored on the theory of mathematical knowledge for teaching and Play based pedagogy because there is a shift globally to empower teachers with both instructional, educator –led approach based on training programmes and play-based approach. This research involved 84 university in-service students, 10 serving teachers, 01 early childhood specialist and 01 officer working for an NGO. Data was collected through participant observations, interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaire, audio-visual, presentations methods in different settings and during the residential. Best practices in mathematical knowledge for teaching and play based pedagogy were enhanced on designing a degree course for early childhood education, module writing, construction and operationalisation of the centre of excellence, coming up with a course outline and activities in numeracy and development with a bias towards informal geometry. This research faced challenges in mobility,