Participating in Physical Classes Using Eduball Stimulates Acquisition of Mathematical Knowledge and Skills by Primary School Students

Abstract

An increasing number of studies are evidencing relationships between physical activity (PA) and the mathematical performance of early school students. This is not surprising due to the fact that children grow in all areas simultaneously and their motor and intellectual developments determine each other. Nevertheless, such an approach of combining mathematics education with physical exercises, in addition through play, which is the basis of children's activity and the preferred way of spending time, is still rare at schools. In response to this problem, "Eduball" has been created, which is an educational ball with printed letters, numbers, and other signs used for team mini-games. Surprisingly, despite the studies on general usefulness of Eduball in preschool and early-school education and the effects of physical exercise classes carried out using these balls, still little is known about their impact on mathematical development. Here, we investigate the relationships between the use of Eduball and the acquisition of mathematical knowledge and skills by children. We used a quantitative approach in the form of an experiment in natural settings in which 7-year-old students (first grade) took part (N = 25). For the purposes of this experiment, we created scenarios of physical exercise classes integrated with mathematical contents that used Eduball. Mathematical knowledge and skills were assessed by one of the commonly used tests. The results were compared with the data from the control group of traditional physical education classes (N = 22). As assumed, after a 1-year experiment, students from both groups improved their results, but we found a greater progress in terms of mathematical knowledge and skills in the experimental class compared to the control one. Eduball particularly affected competences related to such mathematical categories as: sets and their elements, multiplication and division, geometric shapes and measuring length, and measuring volume and mass. In sum, our results show that physical exercise classes that used Eduball stimulate the acquisition of mathematical competences by students and, consequently, confirm that there is a strong relation of physical and mathematical development. Therefore, there is a need to review children's educational models, as well as primary school curricula, to combine physical and cognitive activities.

Physical Activity With Eduball Stimulates Graphomotor Skills in Primary School Students

“…Given the above considerations, in Poland, a method called “Eduball” has been developed over almost 2 decades. Currently, Eduball is included in the official national list of didactic aids for schools designated for use in teaching in preschool and primary schools and is recognized and approved by the Ministry of National Education of Poland and Polish Parliament’s Commission for Sport and is used in several 100 schools in Poland, as well as in other European countries, and in the United States ( Cichy et al, 2020 ). In short, Eduball is based on an interdisciplinary model of teaching PE and combines physical activity and academic learning.…”

“…Eduball should naturally merge with school learning, and teachers can use a book with examples of Eduball-games (e.g., Rokita et al, 2017b ). Ideally, educators should build their own solutions adjusting the activities to the presently studied material (for more details, see Cichy et al, 2020 ). Figure 1A demonstrates elements of the Eduball set.…”

“…Figure 1A demonstrates elements of the Eduball set. Figure 1B shows an example of an educational game with Eduball stimulating mathematical development, and Figure 1C – linguistic development (for more examples, see supplementary material of our recent, open access, Eduball-paper: Cichy et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Our previous studies (e.g., Rokita et al, 2017a , 2018 ; Cichy et al, 2020 ) have shown that children participating in activities with Eduball can develop their physical fitness, motor skills, and fundamental movement skills while simultaneously learning and improving their academic performance, particularly in math and language (for more details, see Cichy et al, 2020 ). Although we have shown that the use of Eduball improves some writing skills in children (e.g., the ability to write straight within the lines, Rokita et al, 2007 ), little is known about the effects of school-based PE with Eduball on children’s graphomotor skills.…”

BRAINballs Program Improves the Gross Motor Skills of Primary School Pupils in Vietnam

“…Given the above considerations, in Poland, a method called educational balls BRAINball has been developed and successfully applied in several hundred preschools and primary schools [32][33][34]. Educational balls are included on the official list of didactic aids for use in teaching in primary schools and are recognized and approved by the Ministry of National Education in Poland.…”