TY - GEN A1 - Poltz, Nadine A1 - Quandte, Sabine A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Kucian, Karin A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - von Aster, Michael A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - Does It Count? Pre-School Children’s Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity and Their Development of Arithmetical Skills at School T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Background: Children’s spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) is related to numerical skills. This study aimed to examine (1) the developmental trajectory of SFON and (2) the interrelations between SFON and early numerical skills at pre-school as well as their influence on arithmetical skills at school. Method: Overall, 1868 German pre-school children were repeatedly assessed until second grade. Nonverbal intelligence, visual attention, visuospatial working memory, SFON and numerical skills were assessed at age five (M = 63 months, Time 1) and age six (M = 72 months, Time 2), and arithmetic was assessed at second grade (M = 95 months, Time 3). Results: SFON increased significantly during pre-school. Path analyses revealed interrelations between SFON and several numerical skills, except number knowledge. Magnitude estimation and basic calculation skills (Time 1 and Time 2), and to a small degree number knowledge (Time 2), contributed directly to arithmetic in second grade. The connection between SFON and arithmetic was fully mediated by magnitude estimation and calculation skills at pre-school. Conclusion: Our results indicate that SFON first and foremost influences deeper understanding of numerical concepts at pre-school and—in contrast to previous findings –affects only indirectly children’s arithmetical development at school. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 777 KW - SFON KW - school mathematics KW - mathematical precursor KW - counting KW - number knowledge KW - magnitude estimation KW - transformation KW - pre-school KW - longitudinal KW - development Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-560283 SN - 1866-8364 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Poltz, Nadine A1 - Quandte, Sabine A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Kucian, Karin A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - von Aster, Michael A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - Does It Count? Pre-School Children’s Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity and Their Development of Arithmetical Skills at School JF - Brain Sciences N2 - Background: Children’s spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) is related to numerical skills. This study aimed to examine (1) the developmental trajectory of SFON and (2) the interrelations between SFON and early numerical skills at pre-school as well as their influence on arithmetical skills at school. Method: Overall, 1868 German pre-school children were repeatedly assessed until second grade. Nonverbal intelligence, visual attention, visuospatial working memory, SFON and numerical skills were assessed at age five (M = 63 months, Time 1) and age six (M = 72 months, Time 2), and arithmetic was assessed at second grade (M = 95 months, Time 3). Results: SFON increased significantly during pre-school. Path analyses revealed interrelations between SFON and several numerical skills, except number knowledge. Magnitude estimation and basic calculation skills (Time 1 and Time 2), and to a small degree number knowledge (Time 2), contributed directly to arithmetic in second grade. The connection between SFON and arithmetic was fully mediated by magnitude estimation and calculation skills at pre-school. Conclusion: Our results indicate that SFON first and foremost influences deeper understanding of numerical concepts at pre-school and—in contrast to previous findings –affects only indirectly children’s arithmetical development at school. KW - SFON KW - school mathematics KW - mathematical precursor KW - counting KW - number knowledge KW - magnitude estimation KW - transformation KW - pre-school KW - longitudinal KW - development Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12030313 SN - 2076-3425 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Moraske, Svenja A1 - Penrose, Anna A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Rauscher, Larissa A1 - von Aster, Michael G. A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - Prävention von Rechenstörungen T1 - Prevention of Dyscalculia BT - Kurz- und mittelfristige Effekte einer Förderung der mathematischen Kompetenzen bei Risikokindern im Vorschulalter BT - Short-Term and Intermediate Effects of Stimulating Numerical Competencies for Children at Risk in Preschool JF - Kindheit und Entwicklung N2 - Ziel ist die Überprüfung der kurz- und mittelfristigen Wirksamkeit einer vorschulischen Förderung des Mengen- und Zahlenverständnisses bei Kindern mit einem Risiko für die Entwicklung einer Rechenstörung. Es wurden 32 Risikokinder mit einer Kombination aus den Förderprogrammen Mathematik im Vorschulalter und Mengen, zählen, Zahlen im letzten Kindergartenjahr von den Erzieherinnen trainiert und mit 38 untrainierten Risikokindern verglichen. Hinsichtlich der kurzfristigen Wirksamkeit zeigten sich positive Trainingseffekte auf die numerischen Leistungen im letzten Kindergartenjahr. Es ließen sich keine signifikanten mittelfristigen Trainingseffekte auf die Rechenleistungen im zweiten Halbjahr der 1. Klasse finden. Das eingesetzte vorschulische Präventionsprogramm leistete danach einen wichtigen Beitrag zur kurzfristigen Verbesserung der mathematischen Basiskompetenzen. N2 - A slew of studies has shown that training programs teaching numerical competencies have positive short-term effects on mathematical performance. The results for the intermediate effects are not consistent and there are only a few studies on this issue. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the short-term and intermediate effects of a preschool training program stimulating numerical competencies for children at risk of developing dyscalculia (<= 10th percentile). During the last kindergarten year, 32 children at risk were trained with a combination of the intervention Mathematik im Vorschulalter and Mengen, zahlen, Zahlen by their kindergarten teachers, who were trained and supervised. Contents of the preschool training were: counting, number knowledge up to 10, comprehension of quantity concept, visual differentiation, spatial ability, simple arithmetic operation, handling of symbols, realizing abstract-logical correlations, and identifying cause-effect relations. The training lasted 11 weeks and took place twice a week (session duration = 30-40 min). Children who participated in at least 50% of the sessions were included. The control group consisted of 38 untrained children at risk. For measuring numerical competencies in kindergarten, a subtest of the instrument Basisdiagnostik Umschriebener Entwicklungsstorungen im Vorschulalter - Version III (BUEVA-III) was used, and for measuring mathematical performance the test Deutsche Mathematiktest fur erste Klassen (DEMAT 1+) was used. Before the training there were no group differences between the training and control group regarding mathematical performance and overall intelligence. The training showed positive short-term effects for numerical competencies in the last kindergarten year (medium effect size). While trained children could significantly improve their mathematical competencies to an average level (from 34 to 41 t-value points), the performances of the untrained children stayed below average. Unfortunately, there were no significant intermediate effects for mathematical performance in the second half of the first grade. Regarding the diagnosis of dyscalculia as defined by the ICD-10, it was not possible to gather a sufficiently large sample in the first grade fulfilling the criteria to test differences between training and control groups. Methodological limitations of this study were the missing random allocation to treatment conditions, a large drop-out rate, and long testing periods. The preschool training that was used to stimulate numerical competencies contributed significantly toward improving numerical competencies in the short term. Further investigations will determine the long-term effects of the training in the second and third grade. This is particularly important because dyscalculia occurring from the second grade on is a stable phenomenon. KW - developmental dyscalculia KW - numerical competence KW - prevention KW - risk KW - specific developmental disorder KW - Rechenstörung KW - Zahlen- und Mengenverständnis KW - Prävention KW - Risiko KW - Umschriebene Entwicklungsstörung Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1026/0942-5403/a000242 SN - 0942-5403 SN - 2190-6246 VL - 27 IS - 1 SP - 31 EP - 42 PB - Hogrefe CY - Göttingen ER -