Predicting children's emerging understanding of numbers

Schröder, Elin; Gredebäck, Gustaf; Forssman, Linda; Lindskog, Marcus

doi:10.1111/desc.13207

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(163 reference statements)

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“…For example, Purpura and Ganley (2014) found, based on a study of 199 preschool and kindergarten children from low-to middle-SES families, that, in contrast to working memory, general expressive vocabulary was strongly associated with a broad array of early numeracy skills such as verbal counting, one-to-one counting and cardinal knowledge. Schröder et al (2022) found that a measure of general vocabulary at 18 months predicted natural number knowledge at 2.5 years in Swedish children (N = 92; no information about parental SES). Task-specific differences in the associations between vocabulary and math skills (e.g., Lin et al, 2021) and individual variation in mathematical and vocabulary knowledge (e.g., Ünal et al, 2021) suggests that vocabulary knowledge is important in the initial mathematical acquisition.…”

Section: The Relation Between General and Math-specific Vocabulary An...mentioning

confidence: 96%

General and math vocabulary contributions to early numeracy skills in a large population-representative sample

Bleses,

Moos,

Purpura

et al. 2023

Front. Dev. Psychol.

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There are well-documented associations between numeracy development in preschool age children and general and math vocabulary, literacy, and executive functions. However, the studies have largely included small samples of children with parents with either predominantly low or higher socioeconomic background (SES); further, few studies have included measures of all these domains in the same analyses. In this current study, we examined how general vocabulary, math vocabulary, rhyme detection and three measures of executive functions are associated with numeracy development in a population representative sample of 2,931 Danish children 3–5 years (51% male, 89% white). Multi-level regressions controlling for child age and, sex, and in some analyses also parental education and income confirmed that general vocabulary (β = 0.16), math language (β = 0.17), rhyme detection (β = 0.14), attention shifting (β = 0.09), inhibitory control (β = 0.05), and working memory (β = 0.09) each are associated with numeracy after controlling for covariates when estimated in the same model. Analyses of extreme performance (low-high) suggests a much closer and symmetrical connection between math language and numeracy compared to that between general vocabulary and numeracy. Interestingly, family SES is weakly but significantly related to all measures, most strongly for the vocabulary measures, but does not influence the pattern of results from regression analyses. In conclusion, both general vocabulary and mathematics-specific vocabulary contribute substantially to early numeracy skills. Rhyme detection and executive functions are also associated with numeracy skills, but with a lower magnitude.

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Section: The Relation Between General and Math-specific Vocabulary An...mentioning

confidence: 96%

General and math vocabulary contributions to early numeracy skills in a large population-representative sample

Bleses,

Moos,

Purpura

et al. 2023

Front. Dev. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[4][5][6][7]19]). First, recent empirical work shows that both visuospatial working memory and expressive vocabulary predict give-n performance among children in longitudinal studies [20], suggesting that the give-n tap into several cognitive processes beyond recognition. Furthermore, Wagner et al [13] show that before subset-knowers learn the exact meaning of small number words (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognition of small numbers in subset knowers Cardinal knowledge in early childhood

Gerbrand,

Gredebäck,

Lindskog

2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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Previous research suggests that subset-knowers have an approximate understanding of small numbers. However, it is still unclear exactly what subset-knowers understand about small numbers. To investigate this further, we tested 133 participants, ages 2.6–4 years, on a newly developed eye-tracking task targeting cardinal recognition. Participants were presented with two sets differing in cardinality (1–4 items) and asked to find a specific cardinality. Our main finding showed that on a group level, subset-knowers could identify all presented targets at rates above chance, further supporting that subset-knowers understand several of the basic principles of small numbers. Exploratory analyses tentatively suggest that 1-knowers could identify the targets 1 and 2, but struggled when the target was 3 and 4, whereas 2-knowers and above could identify all targets at rates above chance. This might tentatively suggest that subset-knowers have an approximate understanding of numbers that is just (i.e. +1) above their current knower level. We discuss the implications of these results at length.

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Executive Function and young children's Cardinality Principle: the mediating role of the Approximate Number System and the moderating role of age

Li,

Di,

Duan

et al. 2024

Front. Psychol.

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BackgroundExecutive Function and the Approximate Number System are well-established as critical components in developing the Cardinality Principle in young children. However, most existing studies explore the relationship between these variables in isolation without examining whether Approximate Number System mediates the relationship between Executive Function and the Cardinality Principle and the role of age in this. This study aimed to address this gap by investigating the mediating role of the Approximate Number System in the relationship between Executive Function and the Cardinality Principle and the moderating role of age in young children.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in China from February to June 2024. A total of 203 young children (97 boys and 106 girls, Mean age = 68.93 ± 7.076 months) participated. Participants were assessed using a range of tests: the Day-Night Stroop Task, Digit Recall Task, Dimensional Change Card Sort Task, Panamath Test Software, How Many Task, and Give-N Task to measure Executive Function, Approximate Number System, and Cardinality Principle. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS v4.1 (Model 4) to explore the relationships among Executive Function, the Approximate Number System, and the Cardinality Principle through Pearson correlations, multivariate regression, and mediation analysis with 5000 bootstrap samples.ResultsCorrelation analysis revealed that the Cardinality Principle was significantly and positively correlated with Inhibitory Control, Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, Executive Function, and the Approximate Number System. Regression analyses indicated that Executive Function positively predicted young children's Cardinality Principle. Specifically, Working Memory and Cognitive Flexibility were positive predictors of the Cardinality Principle, while Inhibitory Control was not. Mediation analysis results demonstrated that the Approximate Number System mediated the relationships between Inhibitory Control and the Cardinality Principle, Working Memory and the Cardinality Principle, and Cognitive Flexibility and the Cardinality Principle, respectively. In addition, the study found that young children's age negatively moderated the relationship between the Approximate Number System and the Cardinality Principle.ConclusionsThe study emphasizes that in developing young children's Cardinality Principle, emphasis should be placed on improving their Executive Function and Approximate Number System while considering the age differences of young children and developing appropriate educational methods for different age groups.

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Predicting children's emerging understanding of numbers

Cited by 3 publications

References 93 publications

General and math vocabulary contributions to early numeracy skills in a large population-representative sample

General and math vocabulary contributions to early numeracy skills in a large population-representative sample

Recognition of small numbers in subset knowers Cardinal knowledge in early childhood

Executive Function and young children's Cardinality Principle: the mediating role of the Approximate Number System and the moderating role of age

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