Numerical cognition
Does training children's number sense improve their maths?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Six weeks of number-sense games made children better at judging which dot set was bigger but did not improve their maths scores.
Study at a glance
- Design
- RCT — Children randomly assigned to 30 sessions of computerised basic-number training over six weeks or a no-training control, with pre- and post-tests using different task interfaces
- N
- N=46 · 46 first graders analysed (22 training, 24 control) after excluding 10 of 56 recruited
- Population
- Korean first-grade children
- Outcome
- Numerosity comparison, number-line estimation, approximate arithmetic and symbol-to-numerosity mapping; standardised maths test and computerised arithmetic accuracy
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Key findings
Only numerosity comparison accuracy improved more in the trained group than in controls; the two groups did not differ before training but did afterwards. Number-line estimation, approximate arithmetic and symbol-to-quantity mapping showed no specific training gains. There was no transfer to the standardised maths test or to exact arithmetic accuracy.
Methodology
First graders were randomly assigned to play a home computer program called 123 Bakery for 30 sessions over six weeks, or to receive no training. The program trained comparing dot quantities, placing quantities on a number line, approximate adding and subtracting of dot sets, and matching numerals to dot sets, deliberately excluding exact sums. Before and after, all children took basic number tasks with a different look from the training, a standardised maths test and a computerised arithmetic test.
Limitations
The sample was small, which limits power to detect modest transfer effects, and 10 children were excluded after testing. The control group received no activity at all rather than an equally engaging alternative, which the authors acknowledge. Mixing four training modules in each session may have diluted any one module's effect, and a null result in this format does not show that no form of number-sense training can help, for example in children with low maths ability.
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