The idea that board games can help children improve their mathematical knowledge has been tested in a rigorous experiment. In this experiment, Geetha Ramani and Robert Siegler divided low-income preschoolers randomly into two groups. One group played a game that was essentially equivalent to “Travel on a number path, 1-10” (this can be found in “Step By Step Number Properties” on the Download page). The other group played a game that was identical except that the board did not show any numbers. Ramani and Siegler found that the children who played the number game learned more about number magnitudes than the children who played the same game without numbers (Ramani and Siegler, 2008 and 2015). Their findings add to the consensus that enjoyable activities can help learners build basic mathematical skills.
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References
Ramani, Geetha B., and Robert S. Siegler. 2008. “Playing linear numerical board games promotes low-income children’s numerical development.” Developmental Science, Special Issue on Mathematical Cognition 11(5):655-661.
Ramani, Geetha B., and Robert S. Siegler. 2015. “How Informal Learning Activities Can Promote Children’s Numerical Knowledge.” In The Oxford Handbook of Numerical Cognition, edited by Roi Cohen Kadosh and Ann Dowker. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
September 2, 2020