One of the key aims of the Centre is to develop and trial resources (including activities, tools and pedagogy) to improve children’s mathematical learning at home, school, and in early years settings.
To ensure that these resources are fit-for-purpose, Challenge 4 is seeking to better understand how research-informed resources can support teachers’ practice by surveying teachers’ existing use of games and playful activities and developing guidance to support the evaluation of existing educational games.
We are developing new (and adapting existing) educational games designed to support children’s numerical skills and arithmetic.
Collaborative work via researcher-practitioner partnerships will refine or extend existing resources and develop new resources in ways that are supported by scientific evidence, teachers’ practical experiences as well as an understanding of the educational context. The resources will be trialled by teachers in their own settings and evaluated in small-scale feasibility studies.
Building on increased understanding of how interactions between families and children affect children’s mathematical learning from work conducted in Challenge 3, we will work with families to develop new activities and games to support children’s mathematical activities at home. This will include digital games developed with expertise from our Centre partner SUMO Digital, as well as non-digital resources such as story books.