A Regina learning centre that focuses on math is helping students stay sharp over the summer holidays to reduce the summer slide.
Raelynn Fohr, the assistant director at Mathnasium of East Regina, said one of the biggest things they realize is being away from learning, kids tend to have their attention spans shortened over the summer. At their centre, Mathnasium offers summer camp programs that strictly emphasize math.
“We are not only teaching them math, (but) we’re also teaching them how to apply math,” Fohr said.
“We use chess a lot where it’s like that logic skill that you get from learning math. You can apply it during games like chess or during strategy games. We play a lot of Snakes and Ladders style games during our game nights here to kind of help kids focus on the logic that you get from learning math.”
One of the kids’ favourite games at Mathnasium is called Fish-Tac-Toe, which helps them learn multiplication, which is similar to the Tic Tac Toe game.
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“A lot of the times, kids will learn their multiplication and then be done with it, where that kind of continuous practice can be really helpful,” she said. “It’s easier for them to keep that distributive practice through a game instead of just sitting there doing their multiplication charts over and over again.”
Dhaval Bhatt has two kids enrolled at Mathnasium. He said his children are interested in different games such as Chess, Connect Four and Rubik’s Cubes.
“More games are … helpful (for) them (to) keep their mind open, creative, and not watching the screen all the time,” he said. “We just wanted to make them occupied and do some creative learning. … Whether it’s arts, science, games … at least they are away from the screen.”
A new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Early Years, looks at how board games are improving mathematical abilities in young people.
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