Closing the gap: Efficacy of a tablet intervention to support the development of early mathematical skills in UK primary school children

Outhwaite, Laura A.; Gulliford, Anthea; Pitchford, Nicola

doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2017.01.011

Cited by 82 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Notably, these results were achieved from a reasonably small time with the intervention, as children used the interactive maths apps for a total of only nine hours on average across a 14‐month period. Increasing time of task resulted in greater learning gains when these maths apps were delivered in English to children in British primary schools (Outhwaite, Gulliford, & Pitchford, ). Prolonged usage of these apps in Malawian primary schools should therefore enhance learning outcomes over time for girls and boys.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interactive apps prevent gender discrepancies in early‐grade mathematics in a low‐income country in sub‐Sahara Africa

Pitchford

Chigeda

Hubber

2019

Developmental Science

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Globally, gender differences are reported in the early acquisition of reading and mathematics as girls tend to outperform boys in reading, whereas boys tend to outperform girls in mathematics. This can have long‐term impact resulting in an under‐representation of girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects. Recent research suggests that sociocultural factors account for differences across genders in the acquisition of these foundational skills. In this study, we investigated whether a new technology‐based intervention, that included activities accessible to both boys and girls, can reduce gender differences from emerging during the early primary school years. The novel instructional method used in this study employed apps developed by onebillion© delivered individually through touch‐screen tablets. Over a series of experiments conducted in Malawi, a low‐income country in sub‐Sahara Africa, we found that when children were exposed to standard pedagogical practice typical gender differences emerged over the first grade (Experiment 1). In contrast, boys and girls learnt equally well with the new interactive apps designed to support the learning of mathematics (Experiment 2) and reading (Experiment 3). When implemented at the start of primary education, before significant gender discrepancies become established, this novel technology‐based intervention can prevent significant gender effects for mathematics. These results demonstrate that different instructional practices influence the emergence of gender disparities in early mathematics. Digital interventions can mitigate gender differences in countries where standard pedagogical instruction typically hinders girls from acquiring early mathematical skills at the same rate as boys. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55x-6hhAY9M&feature=youtu.be

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increasing time of task resulted in greater learning gains when these maths apps were delivered in English to children in British primary schools (Outhwaite, Gulliford, & Pitchford, 2017). Prolonged usage of these apps in Malawian primary schools should therefore enhance learning outcomes over time for girls and boys.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive apps prevent gender discrepancies in early‐grade mathematics in a low‐income country in sub‐Sahara Africa

Pitchford

Chigeda

Hubber

2019

Developmental Science

Self Cite

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“…Other studies conducted in New Zealand (Falloon 2014), Canada (Sinclair and Heyd-Metzuyanim 2014), England (Clark and Luckin 2013), and the USA (Schacter and Jo 2016) show that preschool apps that integrate best educational practice advance young children's learning, creativity, and problemsolving skills. Moreover, four recent experimental studies demonstrated that tablets mathematics apps significantly improved young children's mathematics achievement (Berkowitz et al 2015;Outhwaite et al 2017;Pitchford 2015;Schacter et al 2015). The nascent research on tablets in preschool and year 1 settings suggests that apps designed based on the learning sciences can enhance problem-solving, mathematics achievement, and children's language and talk (Blackwell 2014;Khoo et al 2015).…”

Section: Tablets To Improve Early Mathematics Learningmentioning

confidence: 96%

Improving preschoolers’ mathematics achievement with tablets: a randomized controlled trial

Schacter

2017

Math Ed Res J

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With a randomized field experiment of 433 preschoolers, we tested a tablet mathematics program designed to increase young children's mathematics learning. Intervention students played Math Shelf, a comprehensive iPad preschool and year 1 mathematics app, while comparison children received research-based hands-on mathematics instruction delivered by their classroom teachers. After 22 weeks, there was a large and statistically significant effect on mathematics achievement for Math Shelf students (Cohen's d = .94). Moderator analyses demonstrated an even larger effect for low achieving children (Cohen's d = 1.27). These results suggest that early education teachers can improve their students' mathematics outcomes by integrating experimentally proven tablet software into their daily routines.

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“…Results favored the processing speed hypothesis. Considering the fact that training of domain‐general cognitive skills has been shown to promote arithmetic performance in children of various ages (Fuchs et al, 2019; Outhwaite, Gulliford, & Pitchford, 2017), it is promising that when children have poor RAN skills, interventions that enhance their speed of processing have the potential to improve arithmetic performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring mechanisms of rapid automatized naming to arithmetic skills in Chinese primary schoolers

Wang

Deng

2020

Psychology in the Schools

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Rapid automatized naming (RAN) is associated with children's arithmetic performance, which is multifactorial by nature and consists of arithmetic fluency, arithmetic procedure, and word problems. Yet, it is unclear whether RAN can predict all key aspects of arithmetic skills independently and what cognitive mechanisms may explain this relation. Using a sample of Chinese primary school students (N = 170), results showed that while RAN was associated with all key aspects of arithmetic skills, the relations of RAN–arithmetic procedure and RAN–word problems may be dependent on that of RAN–arithmetic fluency. Supporting the processing speed hypothesis, results further suggested that processing speed may underlie the relation between RAN and arithmetic performance. Findings made unique contribution to understanding the effect of RAN on arithmetic performance and cognitive mechanisms that may underpin this association in the context of Chinese culture.

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Closing the gap: Efficacy of a tablet intervention to support the development of early mathematical skills in UK primary school children

Cited by 82 publications

References 15 publications

Interactive apps prevent gender discrepancies in early‐grade mathematics in a low‐income country in sub‐Sahara Africa

Interactive apps prevent gender discrepancies in early‐grade mathematics in a low‐income country in sub‐Sahara Africa

Improving preschoolers’ mathematics achievement with tablets: a randomized controlled trial

Exploring mechanisms of rapid automatized naming to arithmetic skills in Chinese primary schoolers

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