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  -