Can Preschool Math Games Strengthen Foundation, Interest in STEM Fields?

Wesleyan University Associate Professor of Psychology Anna Shusterman, with help from undergraduate “math ambassadors” from a service-learning class at the university, will begin a study next year in 65 diverse public and private preschool classrooms throughout Connecticut - supported by a $1.8 million grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) - which may have implications for later learning in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

Shusterman, who also serves as the co-chair of the University’s recently-established College of Education Studies, explains that before children enter Kindergarten, they’re often interested in mathematical concepts like patterns, numbers, and logic.

Yet math remains under-supported in most preschool settings in the United States. Her project, titled “Implementation and Efficacy Study of the Wesleyan Preschool Math Games,” has the potential to provide evidence for the benefits of incorporating a simple, playful set of materials into early childhood settings to increase children’s foundation for STEM learning.

Shusterman, who has been teaching at Wesleyan since 2007, plans to provide preschool settings with a research-based, developmentally appropriate, conceptually rich, flexible, and fun collection of math games that can be incorporated into any classroom.

“The preschool years have long been recognized as an opportune time to engage children in mathematical thinking, bootstrapping their natural curiosity and laying a foundation for future academic success and lifelong numeracy,” Shusterman said recently.

Sites will be selected to represent a broad range of demographic makeup with respect to socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, English-language learners, and disability status. The 2020–21 year will be spent finalizing the game designs and the teacher materials, as well as building relationships with partner schools in Connecticut.

These schools will be equipped with Wesleyan Preschool Math Games, well-developed novel teaching materials with specific aims in mind: to be well-rooted in cognitive development research, flexible for the teacher to use, and engaging for children.

The study comes amidst an increasing early-childhood focus at Wesleyan.  Earlier this year, Wesleyan established a College of Education Studies, along with a new linked major in Education Studies.  Rooted in a liberal arts framework, the new College is designed to foster interdisciplinary scholarship of education studies that is connected to practice and policy.  Shusterman and Associate Professor of Psychology Steve Stemler, the co-chairs of the College, have described it as an opportunity for Wesleyan to integrate serious scholarship with the University’s social justice mission.  The new college was approved by a vote of the full faculty in April.

The field of education studies has been evolving at Wesleyan, with a certificate established in 2011 that evolved into a minor in 2017, and growing numbers of students pursuing studies in the field. More than 90 currently-enrolled students have declared the minor in education studies, as of last semester, representing majors in 27 different departments and programs.

In the NSF grant study, Shusterman and her lab will test out different strategies for introducing the math games into the classroom. For example, one group of teachers will be trained to emphasize the child’s initiation and discovery, while another group will be trained to focus on the teacher’s role in drawing out the mathematical content, Wesleyan News has reported.

Ultimately, Shusterman hopes to determine the most effective implementation strategy for using the math games to improve children’s early numeracy skills. The success of the experimental program will be measured by changes in children’s numeracy scores over the course of a school year (fall to spring), compared to a baseline control group. In the following year, Shusterman’s group will repeat the study, this time focusing only on the most promising strategies.

“By using a scientific approach to compare different implementation options, it will be possible to decide on the most promising intervention approach or approaches going forward. As an added bonus, we will find out whether or not the intervention meaningfully improves children’s numeracy skills within a typical classroom setting,” Shusterman said.