At BrainBuilder™, our programs are designed by Dr Fong who has had the experience and research knowledge of the optimal learning environment for students to perform at their best.

Students perform best when introduced to questions scaffolding from Easy-to-Hard

A recent study by Johns Hopkins University has demonstrated that children who are introduced to maths questions which progress or ‘scaffold’ from Easy-to-Hard performed better than those who were introduced to Hard-First or in random order.

The children involved in the study were tested across a variety of maths categories including numbering, number comparison, calculation and numeral literacy using a simple computer game. As the results table above demonstrates, the conclusion was that the order of questions was the most critical factor in their performance.

The impact of feedback on peformance

Not surprisingly, another important finding of this study is that children need feedback, both positive and negative, to increase motivation and boost performance. “It seems that experiencing a growing sense of confidence in their numerical judgements motivated by feedback-driven attunement to the correctness of their own responses changed children’s numerical precision” (Wang et al., 2016).

Improving Maths Ability

In the study, researchers have disproved the idea that maths ability is static. “It’s not the case that if you’re bad at math, you’re bad at it the rest of your life. It’s not only changeable, it can be changeable in a very short period of time” according to Jinjing “Jenny” Wang, a graduate student in the Krieger School of Arts and Science’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Give your child a competitive advantage

At BrainBuilder™, our programs are designed and built using high-quality and well-researched learning methods.
Our students are introduced to maths concepts using the ‘scaffolding’ approach which gradually increases the level from Easy-to-Hard to help build confidence and solve more challenging problems.

Our well-trained teachers are constantly providing feedback to students within a nurturing classroom environment, with small student-to-teacher ratio to help motivate them to perform at their best.

Give your child the BrainBuilder™ advantage, enrol today at your nearest BrainBuilder Learning Centre.

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Reference: Johns Hopkins University. (2016, June 15). Simple Numbers Game Appears to Improve Math Skills in Kids. NeuroscienceNews. http://neurosciencenews.com/math-learning-games-4486/