Article

Amelia Moon Educ. 513   July 22, 2013 Starting Math Earlier The article//, Early Math Interest and the Development of Math Skills//, allows the reader a deeper look at the importance of early introduction to math and development of skills and interest. The testing contains three objectives, “deeper levels of information processing… increased time spent on a task… increased effort and sustained practice (p. 673)” The study uses children who are from lower demographics in Head-start programs. The 118 children are measured by two tests one taken in the fall and the other in the spring with five months in-between each test. The teachers are responsible throughout the rest of the year to help expose the children, between the ages of three and five, to math games and lessons in hopes to increase future math abilities. The article studies children who are exposed to math at an earlier age, to see if they will be able to perform better, with the idea they are to practice the subject at an earlier age. The study intends to show that the child is able to perform better so as the child grows older they are more willing to spend time on math as explained in the article, “…higher math ability increases math interest through efficacy-related enjoyment. Heightened interest, in turn, increases time spent pursuing math activities, which improves ability. While framed positivity, individuals with low interest or ability could experience a negative cycle(p. 674).” Through math related games the children will learn more math and with peers devote a greater amount of time to the subject. The study also looks at how this will affect the children as they grow and are exposed to more math in school. This study showed that children even at the age of three are interested in math. Educators are able to introduce math at this age and assist in the growth of math understanding and math success in later schooling. As a future teacher, I found this article to provide excellent insight into early childhood development and to be a very important point to remember as I continue on to becoming a teacher. By allowing myself to absorb the research findings from the study I will be able to improve my young students math lessons helping them prepare for math in higher levels as well as the math skill they will need to use in their future. Though I found the article to be very interesting and informational it was not a new concept for me. However, it did help me to develop and improve upon my ideas of math in early elementary classes. I will modify my philosophy of teaching to provide an unfiltered education of math for the child trying to minimize outside impressions that family and I myself may have on math and allow the student to develop the math skills to the best of their abilities. Reference Fisher, P. Dobbs-Oates, J. Doctoroff, G. Arnold, D. (2012). Early Math Interest and Development of Math Skills. Journal of Educational Philosophy, 104(3), 673-681