Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Developmental Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1440981

Emotions and Interactive Tangible Tools for Math Achievement in Primary Schools

Provisionally accepted
Filippo Saccardo Filippo Saccardo Gisella Decarli Gisella Decarli Valentina I. Missagia Valentina I. Missagia Margherita Andrao Margherita Andrao Federica Gini Federica Gini Massimo Zancanaro Massimo Zancanaro Laura Franchin Laura Franchin *
  • University of Trento, Trento, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Acquiring mathematical concepts is crucial for students' academic achievements, future prospects and overall well-being. This study explores the role of emotions and the effectiveness of a tangible tool, SMARTER, in a symbolic number comparison task with a group of 59 students aged 6-7. The results show that using video clips to evoke positive emotions can improve task efficiency. Moreover, SMARTER enhances performance more effectively than traditional paper-and-pencil methods across various emotional states (neutral and positive emotions). These findings suggest that addressing emotional factors before engaging in a symbolic task can enhance learning and that interactive technology may give a more significant benefit to students with less positive attitudes toward the task.Incorporating effective teaching methodologies that utilize tangible devices within a positive emotional context can foster engagement and achievement in mathematics, optimizing students' learning experiences.

    Keywords: Math learning, Emotions, Tangible Tools, Children, Primary education

    Received: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 01 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Saccardo, Decarli, Missagia, Andrao, Gini, Zancanaro and Franchin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Laura Franchin, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.