Swiss scientists from the University of Lausanne, together with colleagues from France, studied how finger counting affects preschool children's abilities in mathematical calculations. The study was published in the scientific journal Child Development (ChilDev).
Experts noted that kindergartens and other preschool education institutions have different views regarding finger counting.
Some educators believe that a child's use of his hand for simple arithmetic operations indicates difficulties with mathematics, while their colleagues, on the contrary, associate this method with an advanced understanding of numbers.
The current study aimed to determine whether children who cannot count on their fingers can be taught to do so and whether this training would lead to improved arithmetic performance.
The researchers focused on 328 children aged five to six who attended kindergarten. The project included pre-testing, 14 days of training and two final assignments.
Results showed a significant increase in performance between pre- and post-test for trained children who did not initially count on their fingers (from 37% to 77% correct answers) compared to the control group (from 40% to 48%).
The researchers suggest that because children who use their fingers to solve math problems outperform those who don't, teaching finger counting strategies could help reduce inequality among children in math achievement.
