Play-based learning helps boost maths in KS1, study reveals

Play-based maths activities that encourage six- and seven-year-olds to reason through problems can improve attainment, a trial has found.

Year 2 pupils taking part in the Mathematical Reasoning programme made the equivalent of one additional month’s progress in maths compared with children receiving their usual teaching.

Pupils who were eligible for free school meals made larger gains - equivalent to two additional months’ progress - according to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

The randomised controlled trial involved 6,291 pupils across 238 schools and was carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research.

The programme, developed by the University of Oxford, aims to teach children about the relationships among numbers, rather than just performing calculations.

Schools replaced one maths lesson each week with a Mathematical Reasoning session over three months.

Maths through games

Mathematical Reasoning lessons included whole-class discussion and practical resources, such as blocks and counters, as well as games designed to encourage pupils to predict, calculate and explain their answers.

Pupils were asked in one activity to decide whether the number of marbles remaining in a bag was higher or lower than at the start, without being told the original number.

Other activities included a caterpillar board game in which children roll the die and predict where their counter will end by counting on before moving it. The pupils could also roleplay as a shopkeeper, using coins to practise counting and calculating amounts.

Pupils were split into groups during the second part of the lesson, with some receiving further teaching while others played specially designed maths games on a computer, supervised by a teaching assistant.

One primary teacher quoted by the EEF said that pupils had dubbed the sessions “Fun Maths Friday”.

“The children absolutely loved the programme,” they said. “They were both engaged and challenged at the same time.”

Bigger gains for disadvantaged pupils

Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the EEF, said the results showed the benefits of teaching young pupils “how to reason about maths”.

The stronger findings for disadvantaged pupils were “particularly encouraging”, she said.

Professor Francis added: “Too often, pupils experiencing disadvantage fall further behind in maths as they move through school. This trial suggests that helping children build these fundamental ways of thinking from an early age could be one useful way of tackling those gaps.”

Professor Gabriel Stylianides and Professor Terezinha Nunes, who developed the approach at the University of Oxford, said the findings showed young children could “considerably benefit from opportunities to engage in mathematical reasoning”.

The findings received a “high” security rating from the EEF, which means there is a high degree of confidence in the results.