Utah has been engaging parents as part of a strategy to make math fun for their children and overcome the mentality of, “I’m not a math person.”
As part of that effort, the Utah STEM Action Center, a division of the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement, has created a math game called “MILO and Friends.”
Released in 2022, MILO stands for Math Introduction and Learning Opportunities and is personified by a cartoon moose. The department holds events in partnership with schools, community organizations and other nonprofits where the game is taught to and played by families.
Clarence Ames, research and implementation manager at the STEM Action Center, said the initiative was put in place after he found a meta-analysis showing that the most accurate predictor of kindergarten math entry scores — which can help set the tone for the rest of students' academic trajectory — was found to be "the way parents use math language when they play with kids at home, from age 0 to 5.”
The MILO game has been "pretty effective" in boosting parents' attitudes, Ames added, noting that 94% of parent event attendees expressed greater confidence in their math abilities and are more convinced their involvement matters.
During his research, Ames reviewed the state’s 8th grade scores on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress and went “from really excited to really horrified, really quickly,” when he discovered that while the state was tied for first in the nation for 8th grade math achievement, only 35% of students had scored at or above proficient in the subject.
His research found one-to-one or small group interventions with a trained teacher or paraprofessional makes the greatest impact on math learning, although that’s difficult to scale. — and the second-most effective method is a similar intervention with someone not trained but willing to show up and be encouraging.
The MILO events and game have moved the needle, Ames said. “When parents see what early math looks like, they go from, ‘I’m not a math person,’ to, ‘Oh, that’s fine, I can do that,'” he said. The STEM center also has partnered with pediatricians’ offices at The University of Utah to hand out math board games at 3-year-old well visits, and the center also has piloted a program to provide math guides to accompany books in the “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library” effort aimed at building reading skills.
“Every kids’ book ever written has math in it,” Ames said, adding that shapes in picture book illustrations are one example.
Utah also recently adopted core mathematics standards for pre-K through grade 2.
The state’s new preschool standards are intended to apply to ages 3 and 4 classrooms in childcare centers and public preschools, said Katrina Herd, preschool specialist at the Utah State Board of Education.
They also can be used at home. “There’s a very clear understanding from our agency that parents and families are a child’s first and best teachers,” she said. “If I don’t know how to teach math to my 4-year-old, I can pull strategies and activities, and it gives me a great way to practice at the dinner table, or on the playground.”
In the experience of Latrenda Knighten, executive director of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, parents either think, “I’m not a math person,” or, “I don’t know how to break it down to a ‘kid’ level,'” with the latter group consisting of engineers and other STEM professionals. She said Utah’s efforts to take math out of a formal context and create real-world connections are very promising, in addition to the state's focus on early grades.
“You’d be surprised how many parents say, ‘That’s not my thing,’” said Knighten, who was an elementary school teacher for nine years. “I would say, ‘Ma’am, you can help your kid with 1st grade math. You pay bills. You buy groceries. I know you can do this.’”
