MIKE DUNHAM

Research has shown that achievement in mathematics at the start of kindergarten is predictive of later achievement in elementary, middle, and even high school. For students that start kindergarten behind in math, they would seem much more likely to have the kind of early negative experiences that lead to lifelong math anxiety.

To address this, Polymath is a building and counting game for preschoolers that seeks to teach math standards much more conceptually. Specifically, it tries to address the "transfer deficit" where very young children have trouble translating their knowledge about objects on a 2-D screen to their 3-D real world counterparts.

 

Polymath has two components:

1. A tablet-based app that prompts learners to build lines and shapes.

2. Physical blocks connected by magnets which are used to build those lines and shapes and which provide objects for preschoolers to touch while they are counting.

 

With Polymath, students can engage in rich, exploratory activities that allow them to feel the mathematical concepts behind counting in a way that traditional tablet apps can't replicate.

 

Watch to learn more about Polymath: