Initial Findings on the Value of Math Snacks Games as Tools for Conceptual Mathematics Learning

• In Event: 61.086 - Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 61.086-2 - Inquiries in Mathematics Education

Abstract

This paper presents initial findings on the effectiveness of four games with additional guided inquiry instruction to address student weaknesses in understanding concepts related to ratios, coordinate plane, and number systems. Forty-eight classrooms from a low income, high-Hispanic district were randomly assigned to one of two groups (Group A or Group B). There was pre-treatment equivalency. Following the Math Snacks intervention, Group A students showed significantly greater gains on the dependent measure, MML II, than those students in Group B, the control group. A delayed treatment design was used to provide the same game-based intervention to Group B. Students in Group B were able to catch up to Group A. Group A students also sustained gains eight weeks after intervention.

Authors

• Karin M. Wiburg, New Mexico State University

• Barbara Chamberlin, New Mexico State University

• Alfred J. Valdez, New Mexico State University

• Karen M. Trujillo, New Mexico State University