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Adding math talk to story time at home is a winning factor
for children's math achievement, according to a new research from a university.
The study from psychologists Sian Beilock and Susan Levine shows a marked
increase in math achievement among children whose families used Bedtime Math,
an iPad app that delivers engaging math story problems for parents and children
to solve together.
Even children who used the app with their parents as little
as once a week saw gains in math achievement by the end of the school year. The
app's effect was especially strong for children whose parents tend to be
anxious or uncomfortable with math.
Previous research from this group has demonstrated the
importance of adults' attitudes about math for children's math success. For
example, a recent study found that math-anxious parents who help their children
with math homework actually weaken their children's math achievement.
The new findings demonstrate that structured, positive
interactions around math at home can cut the link between parents' uneasiness
about math and children's low math achievement.
"Many Americans experience high levels
of anxiety when they have to solve a math problem, with a majority of adults
feeling at least some worries about math," said Beilock, professor in
Psychology and author of Choke, a book about stress and performance. "These
math-anxious parents are probably less likely to talk about math at home, which
affects how competent their children are in math. Bedtime Math encourages a
dialogue between parents and kids about math, and offers a way to engage in
high-quality math interactions in a low-effort, high-impact way."
Study participants included 587 first-grade students and their
parents. Families were given an iPad installed with a version of the Bedtime
Math app, with which parents and their children read stories and answer
questions involving math, including topics like counting, shapes and
problem-solving. A control group received a reading app that had similar
stories without the math content and questions related to reading comprehension
instead. Children's math achievement was assessed at the beginning and end of
the school year. Parents completed a questionnaire about their nervousness with
math.
The more times parents and children in the math group used
the app, the higher children's achievement on a math assessment at the end of
the school year. Indeed, children who frequently used the math app with their
parents outperformed similar students in the reading group by almost three
months in math achievement at year's end.