The Use of Number Tree Media in Developing Cognitive Ability of Group B Children at RA Nurul Hidayah Bangsalsari, Jember

Abstract

The recognition of number symbols is a core cognitive attainment expected of children in Group B, yet instruction in many Islamic kindergartens still relies on abstract worksheets that do not match the concrete-operational needs of five- to six-year-olds. This study aimed to describe how number tree media are used in the numeracy learning of Group B children at RA Nurul Hidayah Bangsalsari, Jember, and how the children's cognitive ability in recognising number symbols becomes visible during that use. The research employed a qualitative descriptive design with a single-case study approach, bounded as the numeracy learning of one class over one semester. Data were generated across eight weeks of fieldwork through participant observation of twelve numeracy sessions attended by eighteen children aged five to six years, in-depth semi-structured interviews with the class teacher, the head of the institution, and three parents, and documentation comprising lesson plans, work samples, and photographs. Analysis followed the interactive model of Miles, Huberman and Saldaña, moving from open and axial coding through matrix display to conclusion drawing and verification, with credibility pursued through prolonged engagement, source and technique triangulation, member checking, and peer debriefing. Four themes were constructed. The medium is used within a stable four-part routine in which the detachable dual-faced fruit, rather than the board, carries the instructional weight. The teacher's shift from naming symbols to asking about them changes what the children are required to produce and therefore what can be seen of their understanding. Cognitive ability appears in manipulative action before it appears in speech, and unevenly across the five competences, most readily in quantity-symbol matching and most haltingly in ordering. The criterion of correctness migrates over the fieldwork from the teacher's authority to the quantity itself, a shift visible in the emergence of unprompted peer checking. The study concludes that the contribution of the medium is inseparable from the interactional arrangement in which it is placed.