A new study has found that the acquisition of essential early math skills — counting, recognizing numerals, recognizing shapes, and patterning — increased significantly among four- and five-year-old children from economically disadvantaged communities who participated in a 10-week PBS KIDS Transmedia Math Supplement initiative.
Materials featured videos and interactive content from several PBS KIDS programs such as Sid the Science Kid, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, Curious George, and Dinosaur Train, as well as non-digital activities including books and foam shapes. Key findings of the 2013 Ready To Learn study include:
· Children who used the PBS KIDS math supplement, which incorporated videos, digital games, interactive whiteboards, laptop computers, teacher support, and hands-on math materials, improved significantly in their understanding of the targeted early mathematics skills compared to the control group.
· Children who used the same technology without the integrated math materials did not experience the same learning gains compared to the control.
· Teachers who used the math supplement reported significant changes in their confidence and comfort with early mathematics concepts and teaching with technology. You can read the full study or learn more about the Education Department Center, Inc. (EDC) and Ready To Learn. For PreK-K math resources from PBS KIDS programming — as well as resources for grades 1-12 — visit PBS LearningMedia.