Reducing the gap in numerical knowledge between low- and middle-income preschoolers

• Published in: Journal of applied developmental psychology 2011-05, Vol.32 (3), p.146-159
• Main Authors: Ramani, Geetha B., Siegler, Robert S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Achievement Gap; Arithmetic; Biological and medical sciences; Board games; Child; Child development; Children; Comparative Analysis; Developmental psychology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Games; Intervention; Interventions; Learning; Learning Processes; Low Income; Low income people; Math; Middle Class; Number; Numeracy; Preschool Children; Preschoolers; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; School Readiness
• ISSN: 0193-3973; 1873-7900
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2011.02.005

We compared the learning from playing a linear number board game of preschoolers from middle-income backgrounds to the learning of preschoolers from low-income backgrounds. Playing this game produced greater learning by both groups than engaging in other numerical activities for the same amount of time. The benefits were present on number line estimation, magnitude comparison, numeral identification, and arithmetic learning. Children with less initial knowledge generally learned more, and children from low-income backgrounds learned at least as much, and on several measures more, than preschoolers from middle-income backgrounds with comparable initial knowledge. The findings suggest a class of intervention that might be especially effective for reducing the gap between low-income and middle-income children's knowledge when they enter school. ► Linear board game improved the numerical knowledge of middle-income preschoolers. ► Improved areas were number line estimation, numeral identification, and arithmetic. ► Preschoolers with less initial knowledge learned more on several measures. ► Low-income preschoolers with comparable initial knowledge generally learned more.