AfterSchool KidzMath: Scientific Basis

Many children need to spend extra time—more than they get in school—on certain foundation skills in mathematics.

Foundation Skills

• Counting
• Number relationships
• Addition and subtraction
• Multiplication and division
• Fractions, decimals, and percents
• Measurement
• Geometry

The approaches and instructional strategies used in the AfterSchool KidzMath program are based on current research and thinking about mathematics education.

Games Can Teach Mathematics

• According to Jerome Bruner, games give children a chance to be imaginative and creative—essential qualities for good problem solving. He also says that using games can result in a more flexible attitude and help create a better environment for learning.1
• Paul Ernest found that the success of all mathematics teaching depends on the active involvement of the children. Games promote active involvement and help create a positive environment.2
• Harold Williford says that games are fascinating to children and children want to play them repeatedly if the games offer a challenge, yet are not so complicated that they stifle participation.3

Children’s Literature Can Teach Mathematics

• Don Balka and Richard Callan found that math-related stories provide rich opportunities to engage students in explorations of mathematics concepts.4
• Marilyn Burns says that math-related literature can spark children’s imaginations, engage the children in exciting problem solving, and help them connect mathematics to the imaginative ideas in books.5
• According to Kathryn Braddon, Nancy Hall, and Dale Taylor, math stories can show children how math is used in the “real world” in ways that math textbooks usually cannot.6

Focus on Number, Measurement, and Geometry

• The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) says that developing children’s number sense is the most important goal of elementary mathematics instruction.7
• The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) found that students’ test scores in measurement were lower than in any other content areas.8
• TIMMS also found that although U.S. fourth-graders scored among the highest in the world in geometry, U.S. eighth- and twelfth-graders scored among the lowest.9

Give Leaders Appropriate Curriculum and Support

NSACA Standards10 for Quality School-Age Care calls for after-school professionals to:

• Use developmentally appropriate curricula, targeted to specific age ranges and representative of a variety of cultures.
• Promote opportunities for creative arts, dramatic play, socializing, and learning.
• Encourage children and youth to make choices and to become more responsible. 
• Relate to children and help the children relate to each other in positive ways.

Notes

1. Jerome Bruner, "Play, Thought, and Language," Peabody Journal of Education 60, no. 3 (1983): 60–69.
2. Paul Ernest, "Games: A Rationale for Their Use in the Teaching of Mathematics in School," Mathematics in School 15, no. 1 (1986): 2–5.
3. Harold Williford, "Games for Developing Mathematical Strategy," The Mathematics Teacher 85, no. 2 (1992): 140–141.
4. Don Balka and Richard Callan, Math, Literature and Manipulatives. (Rowley, MA: Didax Educational Resources, 2001).
5. Marilyn Burns, Math and Literature (K-3) (Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions Publications, 1992).
6. Kathryn Braddon, Nancy Hall and Dale Taylor, Math Through Children’s Literature: Making the NCTM Standards Come Alive (Englewood, Colorado: Teacher Ideas Press, 1993).
7. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (Reston, VA: National council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000).
8. Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Third International Mathematics and Science Study Sourcebook of 4th-Grade Findings (Philadelphia: Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education, 1997).
9. Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Third International Mathematics and Science Study Sourcebook of 4th-Grade Findings (Philadelphia: Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education, 1997).
10. National School-Age Care Alliance (NSACA), NSACA Standards for Quality School-Age Care (Boston: NSACA, 1998).