Boosting Number Skills Of Low-income Preschoolers

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325083304.htm

Playing Numerical Board Games Boosts Number Skills Of Low-income Preschoolers

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2008) — Playing numerical board games can improve low-income preschoolers' number skills, offering a promising way to reduce the discrepancies in numerical knowledge between children from poor families and those from middle-income families.

Children vary greatly in the math knowledge they bring to school, with children from poor families tending to have far less math knowledge than their peers from middle-class families. These differences appear to have large and long-term consequences, with proficiency in math at the start of kindergarten strongly predictive of math achievement test scores years later. The gap in math knowledge likely reflects differences in exposure at home to informal numerical activities, including numerical board games.

Board games with consecutively numbered, linearly arranged spaces--think Chutes and Ladders--provide children with good opportunities to learn about the relation between numerals and their sizes.