The Effects of Physical Materials on Kindergartners' Learning of Number Concepts

This study compared 2 kinds of materials in the context of kindergartners' learning of number concepts: 1 using structurally organized tile patterns and the other using diverse objects in various patterns to represent each number. A total of 157 kindergartners recruited from 2 classes from each of 3 schools participated in a 5-week mathematics enrichment program. A series of 9 games was designed to teach basic numbering, operations, and special numerical relations. A variety of tasks were used as pre- and posttests to assess children's learning as a function of the materials used. The findings suggest that these 2 kinds of materials have differential effects on different indicators of learning. At the level of numerical operations, structured materials facilitate children's choice of nonfinger strategies and speed up response time for finger-strategy users, whereas varied materials facilitate accuracy for finger-strategy users.