MATH AT HOME PROGRAM

Participants: Children studying in K1 or K2 and one of their parents

Date: Between February and August 2021

Time: a 90-minute workshop conducted in Cantonese

Venue: The University of Hong Kong

​

You are most welcome to share this activity to those who may be interested to participate.

This study has been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through the Human Research Ethics Committee for Non-Clinical Faculties, The University of Hong Kong.

If you have any questions about the research, please feel free to contact Ms. Wong at 3917-5944. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, contact the Human Research Ethics Committee, HKU (2241-5267).

For more information, please click here.

Prior to receiving formal instruction in mathematics, young children start to make sense of numbers and mathematical concepts through daily interactions and activities with their parents. Importantly, such early understanding well predicts later mathematical learning. For example, in our previous work on children’s early number knowledge, we found that kindergarteners can understand complicated number concept (e.g., multi-digit numbers) even though they are yet to learn it at school (Chan et al., 2020), and that such early number concept significantly predicts their mathematical achievement in primary school (Chan, 2020b). Given the contribution of early number concept in mathematical learning, our research has investigated what informal activities at home can help young children to develop early number concept. For example, in our published work (Chan, 2016, 2020a), we found that story reading can provide a good means of enhancing young children’s mapping between numbers and magnitude, which is a crucial foundation of mathematical development. To make story reading effective, adults should draw the children’s attention to the quantities of the items shown in the story and count the items with the children. In another study (Chan & Wong, 2019), we found that playing number board games with young children can improve their knowledge of number magnitude, when the adults discuss with the children about the distance their tokens have traveled (see Figure 1). Hence, our prior work has provided evidence that some types of parent-child activities can be useful to enhance young children’s early number concept, if they are conducted in certain way. In the Math at Home Program, we aim to transfer our research findings to real-life application by arousing the parents’ awareness of the importance of home numeracy in early mathematical learning, and equipping them with the knowledge of what they can do at home in order to enhance their children’s number concept.

在正式接受數學教育前，小朋友會從與家長的互動中開始了解數字和數學概念。研究發現，幼童早期對數學的理解能用以預測其後來的數學表現。我們曾進行一項關於小童早期數學概念的研究，我們發現學童在幼稚園學習複雜的數學概念 (例如多位數) 之前，就已經掌握有關的概念(Chan et al., 2020)，而且這些概念的學習進度能顯著地預測他們在小學的數學成績 (Chan, 2020b)。

得知早期數學概念對學習數學的重大影響，我們繼而研究有甚麼家庭活動能幫助幼童建立數字概念。我們其中一個已發表的研究中，發現讀故事能提供一個渠道供小童了解數字和數量的關係，從而建立一個數學發展的重要根基 (Chan, 2016, 2020a)。要透過講故事有效地提升小童的數學能力，大人應該引導小童注意故事中事物的數量，以及與他們一起數數。在另外一個研究中 (Chan & Wong, 2019)，我們發現玩數字棋盤類遊戲時，如果大人和小童討論棋子行走的距離，也能提升小童對數字大小的認識（圖一）。

總括而言，我們以前的研究證明了如果親子活動以特定的方式進行，能有效加強幼童的早期數學概念。

在「家數樂」這個活動中，我們希望透過向家長介紹家庭數學活動對幼童早期數學學習的重要性，以及教導他們如何在家強化小童的數學概念，把研究得出的結果付諸實行。

​

For the PowerPoint of the workshop, please click here.

Chan, W. W. L. (2020a). Counting Enhances Kindergarteners’ Mappings of Number Words onto Numerosities. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:153. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00153

Chan, W. W. L. (2020b). Kindergarteners’ Understanding of Multi-Digit Numbers Predicts Later Math Achievement. Paper presented at the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society (MCLS) Conference.

Chan, W. W. L. (2016). Can Number Story Boost Young Children’s Numeracy Skills? Paper presented at 5th Annual International Conference on Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology, Singapore.

Chan, W. W. L., Kong, M. N. K., Okamoto, Y., Soni, M., Wong, J. L. J., & Mendoza, M. (2020). Young Children’s Understanding of Multi-digit Numbers in Hong Kong and the U.S. Poster presented at the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society (MCLS) Conference.

Chan, W. W. L., & Wong, T. T-Y. (2019). Enhancing Multi-Digit Number Knowledge Through Number Board Games. Poster presented at Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference, Ottawa, Canada

​

Figure 1. Number board game designed by Chan and Wong (2019). The players rolled the dice and moved one’s token forward the number of spaces as rolled on the dice. When playing the game, the parents should point to the distance that the tokens had traveled and discuss with the children which token had traveled farther.

圖一 1)在這個由（Chan & Wong, 2019）設計的數學棋類遊戲中，玩家需要擲骰並根據擲到的數字將自己的棋子向前移動。在玩遊戲時，家長應指出棋子向前移動了的距離以及和小童討論哪一個棋子走得比較遠。