Cognitive science in the field: A preschool intervention durably improves non-symbolic, but not symbolic, mathematics

Many children in developing countries grow up in economically poor environments and often also suffer from poorly performing educational systems. Dillon et al. designed inexpensive, locally sourced games—five for mathematics and five for social cognition—for use in preschools in Delhi. They measured the effects of these interventions 3, 9, and 15 months later. Compared with those who played social games, the kids who played math games showed enhanced performance on both nonsymbolic and symbolic math assessments at the 3-month time point. However, only the nonsymbolic improvements persisted for as long as a year.