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The effects of a summer camp arithmetic
enrichment program
Evans, F.F.
Doctoral Dissertation, George Peabody College
for Teachers, 1957.
Purpose:
Determine the effect of a six-week summer
camp arithmetic enrichment program on the
arithmetic achievement of 30 elementary
school boys.
Sample:
Subjects: 60 boys in grades three through
seven.
Camp Affiliation: Camp Whooppee, as summer
camp of Junior Military Academy at Bloomington
Springs, Tennessee.
Method/Instruments:
Method: The camp program was set up to include
solving of arithmetic problems using actual
camp activities and facilities such as:
riflery, archery, boating, games, nature,
construction, purchasing equipment, counting
activities, graphing of various camp activities,
hydraulics related to camp equipment and
facilities, measuring distances, time, volume,
and calculating ratios and percentages related
to various activities.
Instruments:
- Stanford Achievement Test in Arithmetic
to measure arithmetic skills.
- Otis Quick-Scoring Mental Abilities
Test and Kuhlman Anderson test to measure
I.Q.
Design: Pre-test/post-test matched control
group design. There were 30 in the control
group and 30 in the experimental group. Subjects
were matched on arithmetic achievement scores,
age, and I.Q.. The pre-test was administered
in May and the post-test in August.
Data Analysis: t-test
Results:
- Experimental group experienced significantly
less loss of arithmetic ability over the
summer than the control group. 27% of
the experimental group showed a gain,
while none of the control group showed
a gain in arithmetic skills over the summer.
- There was less loss in arithmetic reasoning
skills than in computation skills for
the camp group.
- The boys in the camp program who participated
in a large number of enrichment experiences
experienced less arithmetic skill loss
than those who engaged in fewer experiences.
- Less loss in reasoning skills than in
computational skills for the camp group.
- The two basic computational functions,
addition and multiplication, which were
most used in the camp program suffered
less loss that subtraction and division
skills.
- In the camp group, boys with a higher
I.Q. showed greater loss in retention
of arithmetic skills.
- The boys in the camp group who had higher
I.Q.'s did not voluntarily engage in more
arithmetic problem solving activities
that the boys with lower I.Q.'s.
- Boys in both groups who participated
in many arithmetic enrichment experiences
showed less loss than those who participated
in few experiences (loss of a small fraction
of a month as compared with an average
6-month loss).
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