It is common to see children of different ages counting with their fingers. And nursery school teachers seem to have different opinions on this method of counting. In fact, for some of them, children who count with their fingers have some difficulty with mathematics. According to others, however, it represents a rather advanced numerical knowledge. To shed some light on the issue, here is researchers from the University of Lausanne and Lea.fr, Editions Nathan in Paris They conducted a study on child development. The goal of the study? To understand whether counting with fingers can help preschool children solve arithmetic problems or not.
In general, we can say that the children aged between 4 and 6 years who use their fingers to count are considered particularly intelligent. And this is because despite their very young age they have still managed to reach a level of abstraction that allows them to understand that using different means a quantity can be represented.
The results of the study
The study mentioned above aimed to understand whether children who do not count with their fingers can be trained to do so or not. 328 children between the ages of 5 and 6 were therefore subjected to examination, and specifically their ability to solve addition problems was evaluated.
The study was conducted with a first phase characterized by a pre-test followed by a 2-week training. The third and final phase was instead linked to a post-test delayed. Between the pre and post test it was possible to record an increase in performance in children who initially did not count on their fingers.
Specifically, it was possible to record from 37% to 77% of correct answers compared to those who, in the control group, did not use finger counting. The results obtained have therefore allowed the experts to be able to affirm that teaching children the finger counting strategy It can prove to be of great help in improving their performance in arithmetic.
