Playing at school to develop a sense of numbers and geometry

Numerous studies in cognitive science and neuroscience point to capacities underlying mathematics that are present at birth, that function throughout life in all corners of the world, and that are linked to learning mathematics at school. Could these findings provide ways of making math education more effective, especially for disadvantaged children? Laboratory research cannot solve this question, but it can be addressed by experiments in schools. Elizabeth Spelke will present a series of experiments we have carried out in the slums of Delhi. These offer children games with concrete materials, played in groups, that exercise their intuitions of number and geometry in a social context. Two experiments use randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effects of these games introduced to small groups of children in private kindergarten classes. Two new pilot experiments reformulate these games as complementary activities for all pupils in a public school class, in kindergarten or first grade.

Elisabeth Spelke is a professor in Harvard's Department of Psychology and a member of MIT's Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines. After teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University and MIT, she is now a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and belongs to the British Academy's team of foreign researchers. Her honors include the Carvahlo-Heineken Prize in Cognitive Science (2016), the National Academy of Sciences Prize in Cognitive Science and Psychology (2014), the Prix Jean-Nicod (2009), and honorary degrees from the Universities of Umea (1993), Paris-Descartes (2007), Utrecht (2010) and the École Pratique des Hautes Études (1999). Her work is strongly marked by three research stays in Paris, which have led to long-term collaborations with researchers in cognitive and brain sciences.
Elizabet Spelke is a member of the Conseil Scientifique de l'Éducation Nationale.