That four- and five-year-olds can do algebra, arithmetic, and geometry may be hard to believe. But the basis for algebra, for example, is best learned by manipulating objects of different shapes and colors, without numbers and letters. In math classrooms in the Cordillera department in Paraguay, young children learn to reorganize six balls, six sticks, and three blocks into three groups of two balls, two sticks, and one cube. This is factoring—the equivalent of taking the number three out of a parenthesis. In a couple of years, these Paraguayan children will be able to express the same equation as 6x+6y+3z=3(2x+2y+z). At the preschool level, the key is to learn to see and organize sequences and systems in the same way we do when we solve equations.

These children are participating in a preschool math program called “Tikichuela, mathematics in my school!,” a ground-breaking proyect that we are conducting in partnership with the Japanese and Paraguayan governments. The idea behind the curriculum is that preschool children need to learn pre-math skills in order to have the foundation they need for primary- and secondary-level mathematics.

In Tikichuela, children work in groups to form pentagons and hexagons with their bodies. They look for and identify geometrical figures in the classroom and outside. They can also use sticks to understand that the number six is two times longer than the number three. Eventually, they will learn that in arithmetic this is expressed as 3x2=6.

Tikichuela is inspired by an American mathematics curriculum called “Big Math for Little Kids,” developed by professors from Boston University, Columbia, and John Hopkins.

The program is being tested in 269 schools in the Cordillera department, most of them with limited resources. About 4,000 school children and 400 teachers and school principals benefit from the project, which is funded by the Japanese government.

Through the methodology, the Tikichuela children are developing positive long-term attitudes toward math and getting early training that will be essential for their success in school and life.