Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners (original) (raw)
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Early Numerical Competence and Number Line Task Performance in Kindergarteners
International Association for Development of the Information Society, 2017
This work aims to evaluate the relationship between early numerical competence in kindergarteners and their numerical representations as measured by the number line task (NLT). Thirty-four 5-year-old children participated in the study. Children’s early performance on symbolic and non-symbolic numerical tasks was considered to determine which was a better predictor of NLT performance. Children completed an early number competence standardized test comprising symbolic semantic tasks (Arabic digit comparison and Arabic digit linear order), lexical tasks (numbers recognition and numbers reading), and non-symbolic semantic tasks (dots comparison and picture linear order), and the NLT 0–100. The relationship between early number competence (both symbolic and non-symbolic) and performance on the NLT was analyzed using a regression model in which the predictors were identified through a forward selection based on the use of the index BIC (Bayesian Information Criterion). Results show that s...
Cognition, 2011
In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the role played by basic numerical magnitude processing in the typical and atypical development of mathematical skills. In this context, tasks measuring both the intentional and automatic processing of numerical magnitude have been employed to characterize how children's representation and processing of numerical magnitude changes over developmental time. To date, however, there has been little effort to differentiate between different measures of 'number sense'. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between automatic and intentional measures of magnitude processing as well as their relationships to individual differences in children's mathematical achievement. A group of 119 children in 1st and 2nd grade were tested on the physical size congruity paradigm (automatic processing) as well as the number comparison paradigm to measure the ratio effect (intentional processing). The results reveal that measures of intentional and automatic processing are uncorrelated with one another, suggesting that these tasks tap into different levels of numerical magnitude processing in children. Furthermore, while children's performance on the number comparison paradigm was found to correlate with their mathematical achievement scores, no such correlations could be obtained for any of the measures typically derived from the physical size congruity task. These findings therefore suggest that different tasks measuring 'number sense' tap into different levels of numerical magnitude representation that may be unrelated to one another and have differential predictive power for individual differences in mathematical achievement.
ITM Web of Conferences
The article presents the results of a longitudinal study of the association between number sense and success in learning mathematics in primary school. We analysed the data of 133 schoolchildren on two aspects of number sense related to the symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude estimation abilities and academic success in mathematics in third and fourth grade. The average age of schoolchildren during the first assessment was 9.82 ± 0.30; during the second assessment-10.82 ± 0.30. For the analysis of interrelations, the cross-lagged method was used. It was shown that the reciprocal model best describes the data suggesting cross-lagged associations between number sense and the success in learning mathematics at primary school age. The results of the longitudinal analysis revealed differences in the relationship between the success in learning mathematics with the two aspects of number sense: academic success in third grade only predicted the indicator of number sense associated with the symbolic magnitude estimation ability in fourth grade. The differences in the age dynamics of the two aspects of number sense in primary school are also revealed: the indicator of number sense associated with the non-symbolic magnitude estimation ability was the most stable over time.
Association between basic numerical abilities and mathematics achievement
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2012
Various measures have been used to investigate number processing in children, including a number comparison or a number line estimation task. The present study aimed to examine whether and to which extent these different measures of number representation are related to performance on a curriculum-based standardized mathematics achievement test in kindergarteners, first, second, and sixth graders. Children completed a number comparison task and a number line estimation task with a balanced set of symbolic (Arabic digits) and non-symbolic (dot patterns) stimuli. Associations with mathematics achievement were observed for the symbolic measures. Although the association with number line estimation was consistent over grades, the association with number comparison was much stronger in kindergarten compared to the other grades. The current data indicate that a good knowledge of the numerical meaning of Arabic digits is important for children's mathematical development and that particularly the access to the numerical meaning of symbolic digits rather than the representation of number per se is important.
Journal of numerical cognition, 2021
A recent meta-analysis demonstrated the overall correlation between the number line estimation (NLE) task and children's mathematical competence was r = .44 (positively recoded), and this relation increased with age. The goal of the current study was to conceptually replicate and extend these results by further synthesizing this correlation utilizing studies not present in the metaanalysis. Across seven studies, 954 participants, ranging from 3 to 11 years old (Age M = 6.02 years, SD = 1.57), the overall estimationcompetence correlations were similar to those of the meta-analysis and ranged from r = −.40 to −.35. The current conceptual replication demonstrated that the meta-analysis captured a stable overall relation between performance on the NLE task and mathematical competence. However, the current study failed to replicate the same moderation of age group presented in the metaanalysis. Furthermore, the current study extended results by assessing the stability and predictive validity of the NLE task while controlling for covariates. Results suggested that the NLE task demonstrated poor stability and predictive validity in the seven samples present in this study. Thus, although concurrent relations replicated, the differential age moderation, lack of stability, and lack of predictive validity in these studies require a more nuanced approach to understanding the utility of the NLE task. Future research should focus on understanding the connection between children's developmental progression and NLE measurement before further investigating the predictive and diagnostic importance of the task for broader mathematical competence.
2019
A long-standing debate in the field of numerical cognition concerns the degree to which symbolic and non-symbolic processing are related over the course of development. Of particular interest is the possibility that this link depends on the range of quantities in question. Behavioral and neuroimaging research with adults suggests that symbolic and non-symbolic quantities may be processed more similarly within, relative to outside of, the subitizing range. However, it remains unclear whether this unique link exists in young children at the outset of formal education. Further, no study has yet taken numerical size into account when investigating the longitudinal influence of these skills. To address these questions, we investigated the relation between symbolic and non-symbolic processing inside versus outside the subitizing range, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, in 540 kindergarteners. Cross-sectionally, we found a consistently stronger relation between symbolic and non-sy...
Number estimation in children: An assessment study with number line estimation and numerosity tasks
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - SHS, 2017
Number estimation is an important skill for both everyday and school situations that involve a group of cognitive abilities. The ability to estimate may provide a feedback tool to check performance in different mathematics learning contents. The most widely used task to assess number estimation is the Number Line Estimation Task (Siegler & Booth, 2004), and some researchers used a kind of Numerosity Task (Luwel, Verschaffel, Onghena & De Corte, 2003). This research compares the students' accuracy in two tasks that assess the ability of Brazilian children (N = 60), attending the 2nd and 3rd grades of a public school, to estimate. The children's success in the Number Line Estimation Task suggests it is more accurate than the Numerosity Estimation Task in assessing children's performance in estimation maybe because of the different cognitive functions required by the two tasks. The study´s educational implications are discussed.
Number line estimation from kindergarten to grade 2: A longitudinal study
Learning and Instruction, 2014
A bulk of evidence supports the association of number line estimations using Arabic digits and dots with math learning. Surprisingly few studies have been conducted to explore the relationship between estimations using number words and mathematics. The present study expands previous findings by investigating estimations in three formats (Arabic digits, dots and number), adding language as predictor and by focusing at timed and untimed math learning. A sample of 132 children was followed from kindergarten till grade 2. Results reveal variability in estimation accuracy and errors declining with age and instruction in all children. In addition, our findings suggest that Arabic numerals have a more linear distribution than number words. Moreover, our findings suggest that language explains variation in kindergarten but not in evolution and, more in particular, untimed math achievement can be predicted by number line estimation. Implications for assessment, prediction of math learning and instruction are discussed.
Revista de Psicodidactica / Journal of Psychodidactics, 2014
Early numeracy skills can be predicted from several higher cognitive processes at early ages. Therefore, both a cognitive assessment and early mathematics test were administered to 208 preschool participants, in order to explain the potential predictive role of higher cognitive processes in mathematics performance. Results from stepwise multiple linear regression analysis showed that the variance in the early numeracy skills scores could be partially explained by the following cognitive variables introduced to the explanatory model: emergent literacy, intelligence, working memory, verbal short-term memory, and one of the two inhibitory capacity measurements used in the study.