Giving youngsters a series of games designed to engage them in the subject improves their abilities by three months.

Playing computer games in maths lessons can help to boost pupils’ numeracy skills, research suggests.

Giving youngsters a series of games designed to engage them in the subject improves their abilities by three months, according to a study.

Separate research concluded that nine- and 10-year-olds find science more interesting and get better scores if they are asked creative questions, such as “how do we know the earth is a sphere?” or “how do we know the person next to us is alive?”.

The first project, which aimed to improve the numeracy and literacy skills of six- and seven-year-olds, involved a 10- to 12-week programme of lessons, with teachers using specific lessons plans and materials, including the computer games.

The results showed that the maths part of the project had a positive impact on pupils’ numeracy skills, with their achievement improving by three months, but there was no evidence that the literacy section had an impact on children’s abilities in the subject.

“There was an association between greater use of the accompanying computer games and greater impact in the numeracy intervention, suggesting the computer games were important to successful implementation,” the study, published by the Education Endowment Foundation, found.

Children taking part in the science trial also saw their scores in the subject improve by three additional months, the Foundation said, while attitudes improved too. Half of the pupils who took part said they found science lessons interesting, compared to 37 per cent of those who were not involved.