Learning Math through interactions with peers and with intelligent machines

Abstract

Many children worldwide fail to realize their potential for learning school mathematics. Diverse initiatives have been aimed at changing this situation, by using digital technologies to expand training possibilities and creating and disseminating new educational materials adapted to children's abilities. Most of these efforts focus on individual children, however, and drawing their attention away from the teacher and their peers. Here we introduce a novel approach to digital learning, applicable to groups of children who learn together by playing with concrete materials in small social groups, and who receive feedback only at the group level, encouraging discussions to arrive at consensus responses to math problems. The social groups (typically composed of 4 students) work within the classroom under an adult’s direct view. In an exploratory study, we tested the effectiveness of such a program by comparing the math skills of children who played a set of math games in school, during part of the time reserved for math instruction, either in small groups or individually. When compared to a no-treatment control condition in which no games were played, no differences were found in children's mathematical gains, showing that the game play compensated for the shorter time of direct instruction that children from the experimental groups had received. More importantly, the games played in small social groups with peer-focused interactive learning led to greater advances in math skills than the same games played individually on tablets. Gains were especially pronounced for children whose skills were least developed, addressing the concern that cooperative group play might only benefit the most advanced students, who would guide the group activities. Our results show that digitally controlled peer interactions enhance learning of pre-school and primary school mathematics for children at all levels, and especially for those who started the intervention with the least mathematical knowledge. These findings raise the possibility that digitally controlled games, played by children in social groups, may enhance children's skills taught in primary school.