Peer-reviewed article
Learning through play – pedagogy and learning outcomes in early childhood mathematics
Franziska Vogt, Bernhard Hauser, Рита Стеблер, Karin Rechsteiner, Christa Urech ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study compared two approaches to teaching mathematics in Swiss kindergarten: a training programme led by educators and a play-based approach using card and board games. Six-year-old children in the play-based approach showed higher overall learning gains in mathematical competency than those in the training programme or control group. However, children with low mathematical abilities benefited more from the training programme, while those with high abilities gained more from play-based learning. Educators preferred the play-based approach for meeting diverse children's needs.
Key points
- Play-based approach with card and board games produced higher overall learning gains in early mathematics
- Differentiated effects by ability level: low-competency children gained more from training; high-competency children gained more from play-based approach
- Educators rated play-based intervention as better suited to children's diverse needs
- Study involved 35 kindergarten educators and 324 six-year-old children randomly assigned to three groups
Limitations
The study does not provide detailed demographic information about the children or long-term follow-up data on whether learning gains persisted. The document does not specify the duration of the interventions or the specific content of the training programme.
Abstract
Whilst research underlines the importance of early mathematics in kindergarten, practitioners need effective and innovative approaches to pedagogy. Currently, very different approaches are deployed from an instructional, educator-led approach based on training programmes to a play-based approach. This intervention study examines the effects on the mathematical competency of these two pedagogies. Thirty-five kindergarten educators and 324 six-year-old children were randomly assigned to either a training programme, a play-based approach with card and board games or to the control group. Educators’ views on the interventions were gathered in semi-structured interviews. The results indicate higher learning gains overall for the play-based approach. Differentiated effects were found as tendencies: children with low competencies tend to gain more from training programmes compared to no intervention; children with high competencies gain more from the play-based approach than the training. Educators evaluated the play-based intervention with card and board games as better suited to children’s diverse needs.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Play-based approach using card and board games for teaching mathematics, compared with an educator-led training programme
- Population
- 324 six-year-old children in kindergarten, taught by 35 educators
Key finding
Play-based approach produced higher overall learning gains in mathematical competency than training programme and control