Maths apps can help children, parents do better

New York: Providing elementary school children with a maths-based app at home can significantly improve their performance within months, a new study finds.

Most importantly, the app was particularly helpful for children with maths-anxious parents, a demographic that tends to struggle more with the subject.

To measure the effects of home-based interventions, Talia Berko witz from the University of Chicago and colleagues used a sample of 587 demographically diverse parents and their first grade children in the Chicago area.

The families were randomly assigned to use a maths-based iPad app, while the control group was assigned a reading app. By the end of the school year,

a distinct trend in the maths group was noted, where more frequent use of the app was associated with higher achievements. No similar difference was noted in the reading group.