Enhancing young children's arithmetic skills through non-intensive, computerised kindergarten interventions: a randomised controlled study

AbstractChildren in kindergarten were randomly assigned to adaptive computerised counting or comparison interventions, or to a business-as-usual control group. Children in both intervention groups, including children with poor calculation skills at the start of the intervention, performed better than controls in the posttest. However the effects of training held in grade 1, playing serious counting games improving number knowledge and mental arithmetic performances, and playing serious comparison games, only enhanced the number knowledge proficiency in grade 1. The value of these short periods of intensive gaming in kindergarten are discussed as a look-ahead approach to enhance arithmetic proficiency

Language in the prediction of arithmetics in kindergarten and grade 1

A

Number Sense in Siblings of Children with Mathematical Learning Disabilities: A Longitudinal Study

Number sense, counting and logical thinking were assessed in 14 siblings of children with Mathematical Learning Disabilities (MLD) and in 41 age matched children without family members with MLD. The children were tested in kindergarten and followed up in grade 1. A 0-100 number line estimation paradigm with three formats (Arabic digits, dots and number) was used as a measure of number sense. Results reveal that siblings of children with MLD are less proficient in number line placements compared to non-siblings, with both groups having a logarithmic representation in kindergarten and grade 1. Siblings also differ from non siblings on procedural and conceptual counting knowledge and logical thinking in kindergarten. In addition, our findings suggest that nnumber line estimation in kindergarten is especially predictive for untimed procedural calculation performances in grade 1, whereas procedural counting knowledge is related to timed fact retrieval skills in grade 1. Our findings also reveal that MLD had a familial aggregation. Clinical siblings especially differ from non-clinical siblings on the estimation with Arabic numbers (in kindergarten and grade 1) and number words (in grade 1), pointing to the fact that especially symbolic number line estimation tasks on a 0-100 scale can be used as screeners for MLD. Implications for the understanding and diagnosis of MLD are discussed

A pilot study on the effectiveness of kindergarten games to enhance mathematical skills

Adaptive serious mathematical games in kindergarten were used to investigate whether kindergarteners could grasp mathematics topics. A pretest-posttest-follow up design with two conditions. (Condition 1 educational kindergarten games on the computer, focusing on counting and comparison, Condition 2 educational kindergarten games on the computer, focusing on memory, counting and comparison) and one active control group (playing educational kindergarten games without mathematical content) was set up dealing with 45 preschoolers with a mean age of 68.78 months (SD = 4.46). Children were matched in kindergarten on their early mathematical and language skills as well as on their intelligence before the interventions took place. The study revealed that playing mathematical games in kindergarten had the potential to enhance the early mathematical skills. Children with initial weak mathematical skills in kindergarten caught up with their average performing peers, pointing to the importance of serious numerical games as "opportunities" in kindergarten. Both boys and girls benefitted, with a sustained effect in grade 1, revealing promising potential effects of offering opportunities to focus on mathematics even in very young children

A pilot study about the effect and sustainability of early interventions for children with early mathematical difficulties in kindergarten

A