Chutes and Ladders

Posted by Franz

Educating the Mathematical Brain
UWMadisonEducation. Nov 29, 2012

21:34 How much do we need to worry about molecular issues when we’re constructing bridges or space stations?
Science is always dealing with issues of levels

59:19 mental number line: Chutes and Ladders
Siegler & Ramani, 2009
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SPECIAL SECTION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICAL COGNITION
Playing linear numerical board games promotes low-income children’s numerical development
Developmental Science 11:5 (2008), pp 655– 661
Robert S. Siegler and Geetha B. Ramani
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/sieg-ram08.pdf

http://www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/chutes-and-ladders-game:1095F835-5056-9047-F548-2F4D0AEF4ACC

related:
Promoting broad and stable improvements in low-income children’s numerical knowledge through playing number board games.
Ramani GB1, Siegler RS.
Child Dev. 2008 Mar-Apr;79(2):375-94.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18366429

Numerical Activities and Information Learned at Home Link to the Exact Numeracy Skills in 5-6 Years-Old Children.
Benavides-Varela S, Butterworth B, Burgio F, Arcara G, Lucangeli D, Semenza C.
Front Psychol. 2016 Feb 11;7:94.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26903902

When kids can identify numerals quickly, they have more working memory available to devote to solving math problems (Geary 2006)
http://www.parentingscience.com/preschool-board-game-math.html

Learning From Number Board Games: You Learn What You Encode.
Dev Psychol. 2013 Oct 7
Laski EV and Siegler RS.
http://www.parentingscience.com/preschool-board-game-math.html
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impulse control
M J Nathan

finding neuromarkers: the new eugenics

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Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence.
Psychol Sci. 2016 Feb;27(2):138-49.
Tucker-Drob EM1, Bates TC2.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26671911
A core hypothesis in developmental theory predicts that genetic influences on intelligence and academic achievement are suppressed under conditions of socioeconomic privation and more fully realized under conditions of socioeconomic advantage: a Gene × Childhood Socioeconomic Status (SES) interaction. Tests of this hypothesis have produced apparently inconsistent results. We performed a meta-analysis of tests of Gene × SES interaction on intelligence and academic-achievement test scores, allowing for stratification by nation (United States vs. non-United States), and we conducted rigorous tests for publication bias and between-studies heterogeneity. In U.S. studies, we found clear support for moderately sized Gene × SES effects. In studies from Western Europe and Australia, where social policies ensure more uniform access to high-quality education and health care, Gene × SES effects were zero or reversed.
KEYWORDS:
behavior genetics; intelligence; open data; socioeconomic status

The impact of poverty on the development of brain networks.
Lipina SJ, Posner MI.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2012 Aug 17;6:238.

Math: the single most powerful predictor …

Posted by Franz

Why Math Might Be The Secret To School Success
December 09, 2014
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12/09/367814446/why-math-might-be-the-secret-to-school-success

Since last year, more than 30 states have expanded access to preschool. But there’s still a lack of evidence about exactly what kinds of interventions are most effective in those crucial early years.

preschool students are jumping as they count, to get the feeling of the numbers into their bodies — a concept called “embodied cognition.”

The study is funded by the Robin Hood Foundation, which is dedicated to ending poverty in New York. Pamela Morris, with research group MDRC, is the lead investigator.

There’s plenty of evidence on the long-term importance of preschool. But why math? Morris says a 2013 study by Greg Duncan, at the University of California, Irvine’s School of Education, showed that math knowledge at the beginning of elementary school was the single most powerful predictor determining whether a student would graduate from high school and attend college.

University of Denver professor Doug Clements is the creator of Building Blocks, the math curriculum being tested in this new study. Building Blocks is designed to be just the opposite: engaging, exciting and loud. “We want kids running around the classroom and bumping into mathematics at every turn.”

they observe correctly that a geometric shape must be a “closed figure” and that a square is “a special rectangle.”

“How do you know it’s a circle?” asks the teacher. “Because it goes round and round,” says one girl with a bear barrette in her hair.

When Ms. Conigliaro asks, “How do you know?” she’s asking the kids to think about their own thinking. That’s a skill called metacognition. Explaining your reasoning out loud also develops verbal ability.

computer games matched to Building Blocks that keep track of each student’s progress. And two children play a game called Number Match (“Is three more than two? How do you know?”) as a teacher watches. The teacher is keeping notes of each child’s level of understanding. The idea of developmental paths, or “trajectories of understanding,” is a core concept in Building Blocks.

Morris is curious whether working on math will enhance the children’s ability to self-regulate, inhibit impulses, pay attention appropriately and hold important concepts in working memory. This is a group of skills known as executive functioning. For example, if the teacher says “clap and count to five,” will you be able to stop clapping before you get to six?

mheducation.com > Building Blocks™

Posted by Franz

McGraw-Hill Education Releases New Version of Building Blocks™ to Improve Student Math Skills with 50 Percent More Games and Adaptive Learning Technology
March 18, 2015
… through Grade 8 based on learning trajectories
~~http://www.mheducation.com~~