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Simon Says
"Do better in Maths"

A new study from Oregon Sate University has shown that preschool age kids may achieve better math and literacy scores through regularly participating in self regulation games such as Simon Says.

The study found that the higher academic outcomes associated with the game, which emphasises listening and following instructions, benefit children in the USA, Taiwan, China and South Korea.

More than 800 preschool age children ages 3-6 years old in the four countries participated in the study, which was just published in the journal Psychological Assessment.

Associate professor of human development and family science at Oregon State University Megan McClelland, is an expert on self-regulation in children and has published numerous studies showing the importance of self-regulation – or a child's ability to listen, pay attention, follow through on a task and remember instructions – as a key predictor of academic achievement in later school years.

McClelland also developed the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulder task as a measurement tool to assess how well a child is able to self-regulate.

In previous studies, McClelland showed that the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task could help children with low self-regulation skills become better at self-regulation, effectively raising their academic achievement.

In this study, McClelland, lead author Shannon Wanless with the University of Pittsburgh, who did the research as part of her dissertation work at OSU, and their colleagues, wanted to find out if the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulder task would predict academic gains in countries already known to have stronger self-regulation than the U.S.

"Beyond demographic variables or teacher's expectations, we found that the children in all the countries who performed well on the task did significantly better in math, vocabulary and early literacy," McClelland said. "It shows that beyond cultural factors, self-regulation is important for early academic success."

McClelland and Wanless' study showed that American preschool and kindergarten-age children who scored higher on the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulder task were more than three months ahead of their peers in early literacy.

Likewise, their peers in Taiwan, China and South Korea showed similar results, with the most dramatic result showing Chinese youngsters who did well on the self-regulation task performing more than four months ahead of their classmates on math.

McClelland said this Asian study is not an anomaly – she and her colleagues have conducted studies in European countries, and have found similar results to this Asian study.

In addition, a new study that McClelland and OSU alumna Shauna Tominey conducted of 65 preschool-age children in Oregon, just published in the journal Early Education and Development, found that children who started the year with low levels of self-regulation saw significant gains in self-regulation as the year went on after doing a variety of "circle-time" games in the classroom. These physically-active games ask children to obey rules, listen, and demonstrate self-control. Importantly, children participating in the games also made significant gains in early literacy over the school year.

This gave the researchers preliminary evidence that an intervention using these self-regulation games can work, especially with lower-income children who are at higher risk of starting school with poorer self-control.

"Although many children enter kindergarten ready to learn, a large number of children start school already behind their peers," McClelland said.

"As early as kindergarten, they've become the problem child who can't pay attention, can't focus and doesn't follow instructions. This can lead to becoming a problem in the classroom, which then leads to negative attention. And by the end of their kindergarten year, they are more likely to disengage and say they don't like school."

For more information visit the Oregon State University website.