Promoting Early Mathematics Interest Through Playful Learning Experiences

通过有趣的学习体验提高早期数学兴趣

• 批准号: 1911869
• 负责人: Nicole Scalise
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Scalise, Nicole Rose
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2022-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1911869&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Promoting; Early; Mathematics; Interest; Through

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Barbara Sarnecka at the University of California, Irvine, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating young children's interest in mathematics. Many students from minority groups and low-income households do not pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) coursework and careers. One way to help underrepresented students persist in STEM fields is to boost their interest in STEM fields. Students' interest in math can be measured as early as preschool and relates to their later interest and achievement. Although the vast majority of young children ultimately learn the basics of counting and numbers, many children never develop interest in and other positive beliefs about math. However, little is known about how to support children's interest in math. This project will provide important insights to the fields of mathematical cognition and STEM motivation by testing whether playing math-related card games can help to boost low-income preschoolers' interest in math. Although much attention has been paid to supporting the early mathematical skills of children from underrepresented groups, less research has targeted children's early math interest. This study addresses three aims: 1) whether experience with a playful math activity can improve children's math interest; 2) whether experience with a playful math activity can improve children's math skills relative to a non-playful math activity; and 3) whether children's initial math interest moderates their learning from math activities. Head Start preschool children will be randomly assigned to either play a mathematical card game or complete a parallel mathematical worksheet across several sessions. Children's math interest and skills will be assessed before and after the intervention. Theories of interest development suggest that early engaging experiences lay the foundation for more stable interest in subject areas, and accordingly, this study will provide children with repeated engaging experiences to spark their situational interest. As the fields of developmental and educational psychology move towards the study of individual differences and subgroup analyses, this study will also help researchers better understand the effects of playful learning for students with varying levels of math interest. Based on previous research, the playful learning experience is expected to significantly improve children's numerical skills and promote children's situational math interest, fostering positive associations with math that could develop over time into a more sustained individual interest. The playful numerical card game is an efficient, low-cost tool that can be used to improve early math outcomes for young children, and the results of the study will be disseminated broadly to researchers, educators, and parents. Finally, this study focuses on children from groups that are underrepresented in STEM: children from low-SES households, racial/ethnic minorities, who may be particularly at risk for lower math achievement and motivation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项是作为NSF的社会，行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界，工业或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF的奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。NSF致力于促进来自科学界各部门的科学家，包括来自代表性不足的群体的科学家参与其研究计划和活动;博士后期间被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的重要水平。每个博士后研究员必须解决推进各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在加州大学欧文分校的Barbara Sarnecka博士的赞助下，该博士后奖学金支持一位早期职业科学家调查幼儿对数学的兴趣。许多来自少数群体和低收入家庭的学生不追求STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）课程和职业。帮助代表性不足的学生坚持STEM领域的一种方法是提高他们对STEM领域的兴趣。学生对数学的兴趣早在学龄前就可以测量，并与他们后来的兴趣和成就有关。虽然绝大多数幼儿最终学会了数数和数字的基础知识，但许多儿童从未对数学产生兴趣和其他积极的信念。关于如何支持儿童对数学的兴趣知之甚少。该项目将通过测试玩与数学相关的纸牌游戏是否有助于提高低水平的数学认知和STEM动机，为数学认知和STEM动机领域提供重要的见解。虽然很多人都注意到支持来自代表性不足群体的儿童的早期数学技能，但针对儿童早期数学兴趣的研究较少。本研究的目的有三：1）游戏性数学活动的经验是否能提高儿童的数学兴趣; 2）游戏性数学活动的经验是否能提高儿童相对于非游戏性数学活动的数学技能; 3）儿童最初的数学兴趣是否会调节他们从数学活动中学习。学前儿童将被随机分配到玩数学纸牌游戏或在几个会议上完成一个平行的数学工作表。干预前后将评估儿童的数学兴趣和技能。兴趣发展理论认为，早期的参与经验为儿童对学科领域更稳定的兴趣奠定了基础，因此，本研究将为儿童提供重复的参与经验，以激发他们的情境兴趣。随着发展心理学和教育心理学领域转向个体差异和亚组分析的研究，这项研究也将帮助研究人员更好地了解游戏学习对不同数学兴趣水平的学生的影响。根据先前的研究，有趣的学习经验预计将显着提高儿童的数字技能，促进儿童的情境数学兴趣，培养与数学的积极联系，随着时间的推移，这种联系可以发展成为更持久的个人兴趣。有趣的数字纸牌游戏是一种高效，低成本的工具，可用于改善幼儿的早期数学成绩，研究结果将广泛传播给研究人员，教育工作者和家长。最后，这项研究的重点是来自STEM代表性不足的群体的儿童：来自低社会经济地位家庭的儿童，种族/少数民族，他们可能特别面临数学成绩和动机较低的风险。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Numerical development in preschool: Examining potential mediators of children’s approximate number system and mathematics achievement.

学前班的数字发展：检查儿童近似数字系统和数学成绩的潜在中介因素。

• DOI: 10.1037/edu0000698
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Journal of Educational Psychology
• 影响因子: 4.9
• 作者: Scalise, Nicole R.;Purpura, David J.
• 通讯作者: Purpura, David J.

Symbolic Magnitude Understanding Predicts Preschoolers’ Later Addition Skills

符号大小的理解可以预测学龄前儿童后期的加法技能

• DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2021.1888732
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Journal of Cognition and Development
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: Scalise, Nicole R.;Ramani, Geetha B.
• 通讯作者: Ramani, Geetha B.

Deal Me in: Playing Cards in the Home to Learn Math

给我安排：在家打牌学数学

• DOI: 10.3390/educsci12030190
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Education Sciences
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Scalise, Nicole R.;DePascale, Mary;Tavassolie, Nadia;McCown, Claire;Ramani, Geetha B.
• 通讯作者: Ramani, Geetha B.

Numeracy skills mediate the relation between executive function and mathematics achievement in early childhood

计算技能调节幼儿期执行功能和数学成绩之间的关系

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101154
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Cognitive Development
• 影响因子: 1.8
• 作者: Chan, Jenny Yun-Chen;Scalise, Nicole R.
• 通讯作者: Scalise, Nicole R.

Give yourself a hand: The role of gesture and working memory in preschoolers’ numerical knowledge

帮自己一把：手势和工作记忆在学龄前儿童数字知识中的作用

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105145
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
• 影响因子: 2.6
• 作者: Gordon, Raychel;Scalise, Nicole R.;Ramani, Geetha B.
• 通讯作者: Ramani, Geetha B.