The purpose of this research is to investigate overall aspects of pedagogical content
knowledge in mathematics, attitude towards mathematics of early childhood teachers, and
the difference in it depending on teachers' personal background, and to analyze the
correlation between two. This research is subject to 176 early childhood teachers working in
41 different kindergartens and child care centers in Seoul and Kyeong-gi. It utilizes the
modified ‘Preschools Mathematics PCK Interview: PM-PCK Interview' that used in McCray
and Chen (2012) to investigate the pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics of early
childhood teachers. The questions for the attitude towards Mathematics are based on the
‘Revised Version of Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory: ATMI' that used in Smith
(2000).
The results are described as follows. First, early childhood teachers generally show low
pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics, which changes a lot with teachers’
individual difference, mathematics content strands, and type of teaching scenarios. Also,
educational background, certifications, and the number of mathematics courses he/she has
taken have meaningful effects on teachers' pedagogical content knowledge level. Second, the
attitude towards Mathematics is not high showing more than average only in value of
Mathematics in society. Self-concept, enjoyment, motivation, and anxiety toward Mathematics
rank in descending order. Last, as a result of analyzing the correlation between teachers'
pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics and the attitude towards mathematics, the
pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics is positively correlated with the value,
enjoyment, motivation, and self-concept on mathematics, and is negatively correlated with
the anxiety.