In my previous blog, I talked about a real-life story but this is not just a solitary example, it is truly amazing how playing fun games can positively affect a child’s learning. Here’s another great example…
Geetha Ramani (University of Maryland) and Robert Siegler (Carnegie Mellon University) conducted some research in with preschool children on average 5 years of age from low-income backgrounds were given number-line board games to play. The board games required that the children move their playing pieces through sequentially numbered spaces on the board. The children were tested in math(s) before the experiments and after and the findings reported that the children who participated in playing the board games developed superior math(s) skills.
Ramani and Siegler assigned the children into two groups. One group was assigned a board game to play that involved moving on consecutively numbered spaces on the board. The other group was taught to play an identical game except the squares were color-based instead of number-based.
After two weeks, the children had been involved with four-game sessions, which lasted fifteen to twenty minutes each. The results were incredible! The children who played the math(s) board game improved in all the four areas of number skills tested: counting, numerical magnitude comparison, number line estimation, and numeral identification. Nine weeks later, the children still had their superior math(s) skills when they were tested, whereas their classmates, who played the color-based games, had not improved on any measure.
Playing a board game at home also correlated with better numerical knowledge. They found that the children who could name more board games had better number skills than the ones who did not know most or could not name any. Playing board games at home is beneficial to children and helps them with their math(s) skills.
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