Children at school often help themselves with their fingers to count, a technique that promotes mathematical success according to several studies
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousChildren who are learning to count also tend to use their fingers to help themselves. However, teachers at school do not always encourage this practice and this, according to some studies, is a serious mistake. Counting with your fingers helps all ages!
Even adults, in some cases, still happen to help themselves with their fingers to count. This might seem like a "child's" thing but the scientific evidence suggests that this is not the case at all, indeed this technique is essential for mathematical success.
In a study published last year in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers Ilaria Berteletti and James R. Booth analyzed a specific region of our brain dedicated to finger perception and representation, known as the somatosensory area of the finger.
During the research it was found that children aged 8 to 13 who were given complex subtraction problems, the somatosensory area of the finger lit up, even if the students did not use their fingers. This area of representation was also involved, according to the study, with more complex problems involving higher numbers and greater difficulty.
Other researchers found that the better the students' knowledge of fingers in first grade, the higher the score obtained in comparing and estimating numbers in second grade.
Evidence from behavioral and neuroscientific studies also shows that when people are trained in ways to perceive and represent their fingers, they get better at doing so, which leads to better results in mathematics.
More specifically, the researchers found that as the 6-year-olds improved the quality of their finger representation, they also improved their arithmetic knowledge, particularly skills such as counting and number sorting.
However, some teachers have been mistakenly led to believe that finger use is useless, childish, and something to be abandoned as quickly as possible. But, according to what research has discovered, it seems to be the exact opposite: counting with your fingers is a fundamental knowledge.
Not surprisingly, one of the recommendations of neuroscientists who have conducted important studies on these issues is that schools encourage this type of mathematical work.
In fact, according to research, preventing students from using their fingers could actually halt their mathematical development. Fingers are probably one of our most useful visual aids, and the finger area found in our brain is used into adulthood.
The necessity and importance of finger perception could also be the reason that pianists and other musicians often display a higher mathematical understanding than people who do not play musical instruments.
The research that has focused on the role of fingers is part of a larger group of cognition and brain studies showing theimportance of visual involvement with mathematics.
@Stanford University
@Stanford University
If you are interested in the subject and want to stimulate the training of your children's fingers, you can practice the activities proposed by the experts of Stanford University that you find here.
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Read also:
- These simple exercises identified by scientists help children improve math skills from an early age
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