Playing Linear Numerical Board Games Promotes Low-Income Children's Numerical Development [Number board games vs. color board games]
Siegler, Robert S.; Ramani, Geetha B. (2008). Developmental Science, v11 n5 p655-661. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ849743
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examining36Students, gradePK
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: January 2022
- Practice Guide (findings for Number board games)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Percentage of correctly ordered numbers |
Number board games vs. (Not applicable) |
0 Days |
Full sample (number based board game vs. color based board game);
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0.80 |
0.62 |
Yes |
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|
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Number line Estimation-Percent Absolute Error |
Number board games vs. (Not applicable) |
0 Days |
Full sample (number based board game vs. color based board game);
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0.37 |
0.28 |
Yes |
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Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 56%
Male: 44% -
Urban
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Pennsylvania
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Race Black 59% White 42%
Study Details
Setting
The study recruited students from a Head Start program and three childcare centers that served low-income urban families in Pennsylvania. These students are the sample for Experiment 2, the focus of this review.
Study sample
The mean age of the children in the intervention group was 4.6 years, and the mean age of the children in the comparison group was 4.7 years. Overall, 56 percent of the sample was female; 58 percent were Black and 42 percent were White. The families of 96 percent of the participating children were classified as low-income, and they received government subsidies for childcare expenses.
Intervention Group
Children met with an experimenter for four 15-minute sessions over a two-week period. Sessions were conducted one-on-one between the experimenter and child. The experimenter explained the rules of the game to the child and then they played the game for the rest of the session. Each game lasted between 2 and 4 minutes. It was estimated that each child played approximately 30 games over the course of the sessions. In the intervention condition, the children played a simple game based on numbers and counting. The game board had 10 squares labeled with the numbers 1 through 10. The experimenter and child alternated using a spinner that had one half labeled 1 and one half labeled 2. If the spinner landed on the 1 side, the child would move one square forward on the board; if the spinner landed on the 2 side, the child would move two squares forward. The child stated the numbers as they moved through the board. If they started on the square labeled 3, and their spinner landed on 2, they would move forward two squares and say 4 and 5 as they moved. If the child miscounted, the experimenter would correct them.
Comparison Group
The children in the comparison condition played the same game as the intervention group, except that the comparison group's game used colors, rather than numbers. Specifically, the game board for the comparison group included 10 squares with different colors in the squares. The experimenter and child alternated using a spinner that had colors matching the colors of the game board squares. The child would move forward to the corresponding colored squared based on the color the spinner landed on. The child would state the color of the squares they moved through on the board. If the child misidentified the color, the experimenter would correct them. The duration of sessions was the same for the comparison and intervention groups and each child in the comparison group also received the intervention one-on-one with the experimenter.
Support for implementation
A female graduate student led the games for children in both the intervention and comparison groups.
Teaching Math to Young Children
Review Details
Reviewed: November 2013
Teaching Math to Young Children Practice Guide- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 56%
Male: 44% -
Urban
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Race Black 59% White 42%
Developing Effective Fractions Instruction for Kindergarten Through 8th Grade
Review Details
Reviewed: September 2010
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
-
Female: 56%
Male: 44% -
Urban
-
Race Black 59% White 42%
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
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