This is an excerpt from e! Science News published July 18, 2011.
Children who regularly participated in a Simon Says-type game designed to improve self-regulation may have better math and early literacy scores. The study found that the higher academic outcomes associated with the game, which emphasizes careful listening and following instructions, does not just benefit students in the United States, but also benefits children tested in 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. Megan McClelland, an associate professor of human development and family science at Oregon State University, 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.
In previous studies, McClelland has already shown that the task can help children with low self-regulation skills become better at self-regulation, effectively raising their academic achievement. "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."
These games are physically-active games that, like the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulder task, 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.
Have you implemented self-regulated games in the classroom? Have you seen reading improvement as a result of this type of activities?
Reading Horizons offers free games and printable worksheets that can help your students improve their reading scores. Check out the list of reading helps here >
Source: Oregon State University