Digi-Block Research

Various research studies and case studies have been conducted to determine the extent to which the Digi-Block Program affects students' understanding in math. Find out more about how we've helped our customers in the past, and get a sense of the success we can help your school achieve.

Israel

A study was conducted in Israel to determine if the use of the Digi-Block Program over a two-year period with first graders would make a significant difference in student achievement. Israel was chosen due to its strong emphasis on early mathematics education. One group served as the control group using traditional methods while the other group replaced traditional methods with the Digi-Block Program. Tests were administered at the beginning, middle and end of the year. Students in the Digi-Block sample performed better on the middle of the year and end of the year follow-up tests. These students performed better on questions dealing with mastering counting up to 40, large numbers, and base ten representation. Based on the testing, a number of significant findings arose:

• Students using the Digi-Block Program, with teachers trained in usage of the Program attained a mean score of 88.4. This score is significantly higher than the mean score, 79.4, of the control group, which utilized traditional methods.
• A full 24% of the students in a Digi-Block classroom, with a trained teacher, scored 100% on the test.
• Students using the Digi-Block Learning Program attained a mean score of 85 in comparing sequential numbers, which is statistically significant.
• There was a significant difference in understanding and recognizing odd and even numbers. Students using the Digi-Block Program attained a mean score of 90 on odd and even number recognition, while the control group scored 73.

Boston

During the summer of 1999, the Boston Public School system implemented its first summer school program that focused on mathematics and reading. The summer school classes met four days a week, four hours per day, for four weeks. The population for the study consisted of low achieving second graders and fifth graders. A total of 30 teachers received training on the Digi-Block Program, and received ongoing support during the summer session. Students were interviewed at the beginning and end of the summer with focused questions centered on number and number and operation understanding. Each response was evaluated according to a rubric designed by the researchers. The rubric consisted of four levels with 1 being the lowest level and 4 being the highest level. The results had both statistical and practical significance, and are as follows:

• The gains for the second grade students from pre-interview to post-interview scores was on average .93 levels.
• During the pre-interviews, only 4.8% of the second grade students could confidently identify the meaning of digits. By the end of the study the number increased to 42.8%.
• The percentage of students responding at the lowest level decreased form 71.4% to 33.3%.
• The fifth grade pre and post interviews revealed similar gains to second grade with respect to estimation skills.
• On the estimation items, the number of students scoring at the highest level rose from 14.8% to 77.8%.
• The use of the Digi-Block Program over the four-week time period illustrated the ability to increase student understanding over a short period of time.

To download publications on this research, use the links below:

	Attachment	Size
	Boston.pdf	1.08 MB
	Israel.pdf	752.21 KB