A U.S. Department of Education-funded study of a math-enrichment program featuring such characters as the Cat in the Hat and Curious George showed that the 10-week program boosted early mathematics skills for 4- and 5-year-olds from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The program was evaluated as part of the federal Ready to Learn initiative. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting System are in the middle of a $14.6 million, five-year grant to develop “transmedia content"—video, online games, apps, and interactive whiteboard applications—intended to increase early reading and math skills.
The program was tested with 900 4- and 5-year-olds in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. The study found that the children working with the new program improved their basic math skills more than those in both the control group and in another group of classrooms that were given additional technology resources and teacher training but no special curriculum supplement.
