Evaluation of a Parent Training Program for Promoting Filipino Young Children's Number Sense with Number Card Games

Abstract

Not all parents are skilled in scaffolding their young children’s numeracy learning. The present study investigated the effectiveness of a parent training program in promoting Filipino young children’s number sense via card game playing at home. Participants were 161 young children and their parents; families were of a relatively low socioeconomic status. During the 10-week intervention period, parents in the experimental group received training on how to use number game cards to help their children acquire various numeracy concepts; parents in the control group received no special instructions. Children in the experimental group showed greater improvements in their performance on six number sense tasks (namely numeral identification, object counting, rote counting, missing number, numerical magnitude comparison, and addition) over the intervention period than did children in the control group. Findings of the present study suggest that providing simple training to parents on strategies for fostering their young children’s number sense at home is important for giving children a good early start in basic number knowledge.