To return to Trninic’s idea about body movement in maths, I was reading an article by Jo Boaler which mentioned students who count on their fingers. Boaler quoted a study which said that students see a representation of their fingers in their minds when calculating. Another study looked at finger perception – whether students know what finger is being touched when they can’t see. Amazingly, young students who get training on how to perceive and represent their own fingers go on to do better in maths. In fact, in six-year-old students, finger perception was a better indicator of maths performance than tests of cognitive processing. Boaler posits that this is also why some people are who are good at music are also good at maths.
[Sidebar: I’ve certainly known a lot of people who are great at both maths and music. I have quite a few in my department now. I had a friend who did joint Honours at university in maths and music and wrote a thesis that connected both. Recently I’ve seen some good IB Internal Assessments about harmonics and chord structure. Does this ring true with you also? (Punny!)]
Boaler has developed some activities for young children (pre-kindergarten/nursery) to increase finger perception. I would love to hear from anyone who works with younger children and tries them.
