Why are we doing this study?

The Bedtime Math Foundation created and funded Crazy 8s as a step towards changing the way children feel about math.  The goal is to share with children how fun math can be, supplementing standard classroom math with activities that are as fun as they are educational.  Crazy 8s has already been enormously successful, with over 1000 clubs currently running across the country.

While Crazy 8s has terrific potential to change the way children feel about math, its actual effects on children remain unstudied—indeed, no existing research has examined the effects of any extra-curricular math program on children’s math anxiety and attitudes. 

The Math Anxiety and Perception Study

At the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development, we have many years of experience studying the development of math abilities; our research has been featured in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and other national publications.  We couldn’t be more excited about our latest project: a large-scale effort to measure the impact of Crazy 8s on children’s math attitudes.  This will help us determine the real-life value of participating in Crazy 8s, with the aim of offering guidance to educators and parents on ways to improve children’s interest and passion for math.

We Need Your Help!

To do this, we need your help!  We are asking you to partner with us in this effort to study ways to improve children’s enthusiasm for math.  Participation is easy and involves the following:

1. -Kids in each participating club will receive age-appropriate questionnaires to be answered and collected during their first club meeting.  Children may also complete a 3-minute math assessment. The same questionnaire and assessment will be administered at the last club meeting.  In doing so, we will be able to see the change in children’s math anxiety and attitudes.  These questionnaires and assessments will should only take about ten minutes to complete.
   

1. -If your club is within driving distance of us in here in Baltimore, we may coordinate a visit to your first club meeting and your last club meeting.
   

1. -We also ask that as part of the study you complete our Coach Questionnaire, so that we can gain a better understanding of your own experience and attitudes toward math.
   

1. -After completing the questionnaires and assessments, coaches will mail them back to our research team in prepaid envelopes.
   

1. -Questionnaires and assessments will only be administered if club coaches give us their written consent to participate, and if our research team visits your club, written permission will also be collected from parents.  All identifying information will be kept confidential and secure.  These activities will allow us the opportunity to understand how club participation affects the way children feel about math, and whether participating in an extra-curricular math club improves children’s math attitudes. Coaches, parents, or children can decline to participate, and this will in no way impact their running of, or the child’s participation in, Crazy 8s.
   

We are excited to begin understanding ways in which we can help increase kids’ interest in math, and lessen their math anxiety, through existing extra-curricular programs.  But we can’t do it without your help!

How to Help

We’d love for you to join us in exploring just how powerful and impactful Crazy 8s can be.  If you agree to be part of our study, please give your permission either through the email address listed below or submit the electronic permission form at the top of this page.

If our study team is visiting your club, the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development will begin the process of contacting parents of children enrolled in Crazy 8s clubs to request their participation before the clubs begin their activities.

For more information, our Project Coordinator Allison Rhodes can answer any questions either by phone: (410) 516-6895, or by email: [email protected].

We are excited about the possibility of working with you to see the effects that Crazy 8s is having on your students, and we hope you are too!