This simple game makes kids better at math

Although math skills are notoriously difficult to improve, Johns Hopkins University researchers improved preschoolers' arithmetic performance simply by exercising their intuitive number sense with a quick computer game.

Video transcription

[playful music and whistling]
Little girl: 1, 2, 3
Woman: Do you think mathematics is easy or difficult?
Hard.
Is math difficult for children?
Hard.
Easy!
Easy.
Man: Is it easy? For what?
Uh. I don't know.
[playful music and whistling]
Graphic: Johns Hopkins Researchers studying the human mind have discovered a simple game that makes children better at math.
Female computer voice: Let's play a game!
Each of them will have a few points.
Children play this computerized dot game in which they see two collections of dots.
And now, which ones more?
The dots flash too quickly to count, so they must simply be using that intuitive gut sense of number that we know we share with other animal species and that even newborns have.
Blue!
Computer: That's right!
All the kids have to do is tell us if there are more blue dots or more yellow dots.
YELLOW!
Computer: You did it!
Great job!
1, 2, 3, 4
After the dot game, we gave the children part of a standardized math assessment.
Which is closest to 3 when counting?
Children who, in the dot game, had the opportunity to refine their abilities by starting with the easier problems and gradually progressing to the difficult problems performed better in mathematics.
20!
Our research showed that with a simple five-minute computer game that had nothing to do with numbers, children could actually change their math performance from a 60th percentile to an 80th percentile.
Well done! And seven o'clock?
By making children better at making these very simple point judgments, we have also made them better at school math, at least temporarily.
How did you know if there was more blue or more yellow?
Because I'm smart!
[laugh]
These results are really exciting to work with because they show a very clear connection between a set of evolutionarily ancient abilities and a unique set of human formal mathematical abilities.
Computer: Yeah!
This raises many interesting questions, including how long this type of effect lasts and whether we can also improve children's math performance in the classroom.
[panting]
Blue!
That's right!
[playful music and whistling]