Children who start using their fingers early are more likely to become better at calculating later, a Swiss study has found. Photo: dpa/Marcel Kusch
Counting on fingers in primary school is not a sign of weakness but an important tool for learning mathematics, according to a long-term study by researchers in Switzerland published in Developmental Psychology.
The team found that children learn arithmetic better when they use their hands. Parents and teachers should not stop children from counting on their fingers, said study author Catherine Thevenot of the University of Lausanne.
"Children should never be ashamed to use their fingers. They should be proud to use them to solve calculations."
Last year, Thevenot published a study on pre-school children showing that their arithmetic performance can be improved if they are taught to count on their fingers.
Previous research had suggested that from about age seven, children who do not use their fingers perform better than finger counters.
Thevenot and colleague Marie Krenger examined what lies behind this.
They tracked the longer-term development of around 200 Swiss children aged four-and-a-half to seven-and-a-half, this time without instruction on finger counting, and observed them adding at regular intervals.
The results showed that the earlier children called on their fingers, the more likely they were to become some of the best at calculating later on. Children who never counted on their fingers over the years showed the weakest performance, the researchers reported.
According to the authors, the reason children without finger help do better from about age seven is that they had previously learned to calculate with their hands, then moved on to mental arithmetic.
Former finger counters outperformed both children who had never used their fingers and those who continued to rely on them.
If children over age eight still need their hands to calculate, this could be a sign of difficulties, Thevenot said. But even then, she added, they should not be scolded, because using their fingers likely helps them reach the next developmental stage, only a little later than others. – dpa
