creating early math games that work!

EC STEM Institute

Creating Early Math GamesThat Work!

Teresa GonczyFriday, Sept 5th, 10:30am

© Teresa Gonczy 2014 – Region IX Head Start Association Early Childhood STEM Institute, San Diego, CA

Math Games

Let's get in the playing mode! :-)


Math Games

Think about...* what specific math skills are being developed?

* what non-math skills are being developed?* how could you create this game in your

classroom with basic materials?


Why Math in ECE?

Research shows that early math skills are just as predictive, and possibly more predictive, of later

academic success than early literacy skills.

And yet most preschool classrooms devote much more time to literacy than to math.


Duncan, G.J., Dowsett, C.J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A.C., Klebanov, P., Pagani, L.S., Feinstein, L., Engel, M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Sexton, H., Duckworth, K., and Japel, C. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6).

Why Early Math Games?

Early math isn't about worksheets or flashcards.

Games are fun and effective!


Why Early Math Games?

Researchers found that the more board games children played, the better they performed on

various early math tasks.


Ramani GB and Siegler RS. 2008. Promoting broad and stable improvements in low-income children’s numerical knowledge through playing with number board games. Child Development 79(2):375-394 - See more at: http://www.parentingscience.com/preschool-board-game-math.html#sthash.xvbOeAdk.dpuf

What Type of Math Games?

Moving from logarithmic thinkingto linear thinking




Moving from logarithmic thinkingto linear thinking -

The Great Race Game





The Great Race Game

Specifics... * not color based* not circular track


Siegler, R. S. & Ramani, G. B. (2009). Playing linear number board games but not circular ones improves low-income preschoolers’ numerical understanding. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 545-560.



The Great Race Game

More Specifics... How you count matters!

Count on!


Laski EV and Siegler RS. 2014. Learning from number board games: You learn what you encode. Dev Psychol. 50(3):853-64. - See more at: http://www.parentingscience.com/preschool-math-games.html#sthash.G1eVH9KD.dpuf



The Great Race Game

You can create in your classroom -Individualize for each student and their interests


Laski EV and Siegler RS. 2014. Learning from number board games: You learn what you encode. Dev Psychol. 50(3):853-64. - See more at: http://www.parentingscience.com/preschool-math-games.html#sthash.G1eVH9KD.dpuf


Subitizing & the Approximate Number System


Daniel C. Hyde, Saeeda Khanum, Elizabeth S. Spelke. Brief non-symbolic, approximate number practice enhances subsequent exact symbolic arithmetic in children. Cognition, 2014; 131 (1): 92 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.12.007


Subitizing & the Approximate Number System - * saying how many after quick showing

* comparing two quantitiesWithout Counting!


Daniel C. Hyde, Saeeda Khanum, Elizabeth S. Spelke. Brief non-symbolic, approximate number practice enhances subsequent exact symbolic arithmetic in children. Cognition, 2014; 131 (1): 92 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.12.007


Spatial Training


Yi Ling Cheng, Kelly S. Mix. Spatial Training Improves Children's Mathematics Ability. Journal of Cognition and Development, 2012; 120919075341007 DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2012.725186


Spatial Training -Blocks & Tangram Shapes




Spatial Training -Blocks & Tangram Shapes

* Mental rotation* Fitting blocks into shapes

* Playing with puzzles




Spatial Training -Using spatial language (in, on, above, etc)

is also very important!


Pruden SM, Levine SC and Huttenlocher J. 2011. Children's spatial thinking: Does talk about the aptial world matter? Developmental Science (14): 1417-1430. - See more at: http://www.parentingscience.com/spatial-intelligence.html#sthash.8R3JvZfG.dpuf

Let's Create!

We don't need to buy games!We can create our own games with

basic materials,and then we can customize the games

to our curriculum topics andour students' interests.


Let's Create!

* Think about a theme(curriculum topic, student interest, etc)

* Choose a type of game(linear race game, subitizing & ANS,spatial training, or your own idea!)


Let's Create!

Presentation of Games


Conclusion

* I used to think... Now I think...

* What new idea or activity are you going to take into your classroom next week?


Contact

Teresa [email protected] @earlymath

Slides will be availableon my blog at

www.teresaeg.com/blog
