The development of numerical estimation and mathematical skills in young children - longitudinal and microgenetic changes in number knowledge.

Lead Research Organisation: Heriot-Watt University
Department Name: Sch of Life Sciences

Abstract

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Description A key finding of the project wa that nuemrical estimation linearity - contrary to extant literature elsewhere - was not a critical driver of early mathematical ability. Our interpretation is that the quality of children's representations of number might be important for some early numeracy targets but are unlikely to be crucial for others. Particularly striking - again, with respect to previous literature which finds Chinese children far in advance of North American children - our cross-cultural comparisons revealed that the numerical ability of Chinese children is comparable to children from the UK in the early years of School.
Exploitation Route There are many potential directions for developing the research work in the future. For example, there is still little known about the causal agents responsible for changes in children's estimation accuracy. If it was possible to experimentally isolate these factors, then researchers might usefully attempt early intervention to enhance estimation skill. A different issue arises from conducting further work to integrate number estimation skills into mathematical cognition, to consider how representations of magnitude affect (if at all) number processing. In sum, we believe that further work pursuing the ambition of the current project will yield additional insight for researchers.
Sectors Education