Fractions Times Tables Decimals
      Blog Main

Board games ‘boost early maths skills’

November 17th, 2008

Playing four 15-minute sessions of board games such as snakes and ladders can improve a child’s mathematical abilities significantly, according to a study of four and five-year-olds. And the improvement in numerical tests is still measurable nine weeks later.

The researchers who conducted the study said nursery classes should include numerical board games to familiarise children with numbers before they go to school. It is also an easy way for parents to give their children a head start in maths.

“We believe the game helps children learn that the magnitudes of whole numbers increase in a linear fashion,” said Professor Robert Siegler, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “They learn that it takes twice as much time to move to 8 as to 4, that the distance traversed is twice as long, that it takes twice as many movements of the token to get to 8 as 4, and so on.”

Giving children an early maths boost is significant because previous studies have shown that differences in mathematical ability between children in the first year at school persist into secondary education.

Siegler and his colleague Dr Geetha Ramani arranged three 20-minute sessions of board game play with 124 children on a US government programme for low-income families - to qualify, annual family income must be below $16,600 (£8,400). Of the total, 68 played with a numerical version of The Great Race, a game that involves moving on numbered squares. The rest played an identical game but with the numbers replaced by colours. By the end of the sessions the children who played the numerical version did significantly better than those on the colour version in four tests of numerical aptitude. The team report their research in the journal Child Development.

Full Article at The Guardian

Math Board Games on our site

Decimals Board Game
Fractions Board Game

Leave a comment »

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

:mrgreen::neutral::twisted::shock::smile::???::cool::evil::grin::oops::razz::roll::wink::cry::eek::lol::mad::sad:

RSS feed for these comments. | TrackBack URI





Math Games

Bingo, Quiz Master, Board Games, Card Games and more! Elementary Math Games

More Education Sites



Math Review Games

Games for reviewing Math!
Learn More >>>

Newsletter


Sign-up today for
Lesson Plan Newsletter

Each monthly issue includes, teaching tips, and free lesson plans and worksheets.

Name:
Email: