THE SCIENCE BEHIND
LearningBzzz
Your baby was born with a number sense. We built an app around it.
For over 30 years, cognitive scientists at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke and universities around the world have studied how babies understand quantity. Their findings changed what we know about early math. Below are the nine peer-reviewed studies LearningBzzz is built on, explained in plain language, with full citations so you can read them yourself.
The research tells a simple story in three parts:
1. Born ready: Babies can perceive quantity from birth.
2. Proven to matter: That early number sense is linked to math ability years later.
3. Trainable: Number sense can be strengthened with practice.
1. Born Ready
Newborns perceive number before they ever see a numeral.
Scientists call it the Approximate Number System: an inborn ability to sense "how many" without counting. It is part of the human brain from the start.
Newborns match sounds to objects by number (Izard, Sann, Spelke & Streri, 2009, PNAS)
Researchers tested babies who were about two days old. The babies heard a syllable repeated either 4 or 12 times, then saw pictures of 4 or 12 objects. They looked longer at the picture that matched the number of sounds they had heard. Because the match crossed from hearing to seeing, it shows newborns represent number itself, not just a pattern of shapes or sounds.
What it means for your baby: your child doesn't have to be taught that quantities exist. LearningBzzz starts with quantity, the ability your baby already has, before introducing numerals and symbols.
Not Just Humans
Number sense is ancient. Many animals are born with it too.
The number sense your baby is born with isn't a human invention. Scientists have found it in monkeys, birds and many other animals. That tells us it's a deep, built-in part of how brains work.
Newborn chicks track addition and subtraction (Rugani et al., 2009, Proceedings of the Royal Society B)
Chicks just 3 or 4 days old watched objects disappear behind two screens and then move from one screen to the other. The chicks went to the screen hiding more objects. No one taught them. They were born keeping track.
Monkeys match voices to faces by number (Jordan, Brannon, Logothetis & Ghazanfar, 2005, Current Biology, Duke University)
Untrained monkeys heard 2 or 3 monkeys calling. They then looked longer at the video showing the matching number of monkeys. Like newborn babies, they connected number across hearing and seeing.
Monkeys and college students add in similar ways (Cantlon & Brannon, 2007, PLoS Biology, Duke University)
Monkeys and college students both added two groups of dots and picked the correct total, without counting. The students were more accurate, but both showed the same pattern and responded at similar speeds. This suggests humans and monkeys share the same basic system for approximate math.
2. Proven to Matter
A baby's number sense is linked to their math ability years later.
Number sense at 6 months predicts math at 3½ years (Starr, Libertus& Brannon, 2013, PNAS, Duke University)
Researchers measured how well 6-month-olds noticed changes in number. They tested the same children again at 3½. Babies with sharper number sense went on to have stronger math skills, even after the researchers accounted for IQ.
A separate team in Italy found the same pattern. Number sense measured at 12 months predicted math skills at age 4. Replication by a different lab is one of the strongest signals in science.
The link is already there before school (Libertus, Feigenson & Halberda, 2011, Developmental Science, Johns Hopkins University)
In children aged 3 to 5, number sense was linked to early math ability before any formal math teaching. The link held after accounting for verbal ability.
Weak number sense underlies math learning disability (Mazzocco, Feigenson & Halberda, 2011, Child Development)
Students with a math learning disability (dyscalculia) had much less precise number sense than their peers. The foundation matters, and gaps in it show up years later.
Why Early Math Matters for Life
Early math skills shape school success and adult outcomes.
Early math is the strongest predictor of later school achievement (Duncan et al., 2007, Developmental Psychology)
This analysis pooled six large studies of children in the US, UK and Canada. Of the skills children bring to kindergarten, early math was the strongest predictor of later achievement, ahead of early reading and attention.
Preschool math predicts high school achievement
(Watts, Duncan, Siegler & Davis-Kean, 2014, Educational Researcher)
Math knowledge before first grade predicted math achievement at age 15. The advantage didn't fade over time.
Math at age 7 predicts income and job status at age 42 (Ritchie & Bates, 2013, Psychological Science)
Following more than 17,000 people in the UK from birth, researchers found childhood math ability was linked to socioeconomic status in adulthood. The link held even after accounting for intelligence and family background.
3. Trainable
Number sense isn't fixed. It can be strengthened with practice.
Quantity training improved preschoolers' math (Park, Bermudez, Roberts & Brannon, 2016, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Duke University)
Preschoolers practiced adding and comparing groups of dots, with no numerals involved. After the training, they did better on symbolic math tests than children in a comparison group. Practice with quantity carried over to math with numbers.
This is the idea at the heart of LearningBzzz: build the quantity foundation first, and numbers and equations have something to stand on.
How LearningBzzz Puts the Research to Work
Every design choice traces back to the science above.
• Quantity first. Lessons begin with groups of dots, the way the research measures number sense, before numerals, symbols and equations.
• Built for babies. Starting at 3 months, infants answer with their eyes. The app uses eye-tracking to see which of two choices your baby looks at, so no tapping or talking is needed.
• Research-style evaluations. Each evaluation shows two choices, randomizes which side the correct answer appears on, and draws the wrong answer from numbers your child has already learned. This two-choice format is the same one developmental scientists use in the lab.
• Speech for preschoolers. From age 2½, children say their answers out loud, and speech recognition checks them.
• Short and calm. Sessions last about 20 seconds, a few times a day, with no ads and no overstimulation.
Our honest note to parents
The studies on this page show that number sense exists from birth, that it matters for later math, and that it can be trained. They did not test LearningBzzz itself. We designed the app to apply these findings, and we're collecting learning data to measure how children progress. We'll always tell you the difference between what the research shows and what we're still learning.
We didn't invent the science. We built an app around it.