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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.
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.
Human beings are supposed to possess an approximate number system (ANS) dedicated to extracting and representing approximate numerical magnitude information as well as an object tracking system (OTS) for the rapid and accurate enumeration of small sets. It is assumed that the OTS and the ANS independently contribute to the acquisition of more elaborate numerical concepts. Chinese children have been shown to exhibit more elaborate numerical concepts than their non-Chinese peers, but it is still an open question whether similar cross-national differences exist with regard to the underlying systems, namely the ANS and the OTS. In the present study, we investigated this question by comparing Chinese and German preschool children with regard to their performance in a non-symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task (assessing the ANS) and in an enumeration task (assessing the OTS). In addition, we compared children’s counting skills. To ensure that possible between-group differences could not be explained by differences in more general performance factors, we also assessed children’s reasoning ability and processing speed. Chinese children showed a better counting performance and a more accurate performance in the non-symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task. These differences in performance could not be ascribed to differences in reasoning abilities and processing speed. In contrast, Chinese and German children did not differ significantly in the enumeration of small sets. The superior counting performance of Chinese children was thus found to be reflected in the ANS but not in the OTS.
Human beings are supposed to possess an approximate number system (ANS) dedicated to extracting and representing approximate numerical magnitude information as well as an object tracking system (OTS) for the rapid and accurate enumeration of small sets. It is assumed that the OTS and the ANS independently contribute to the acquisition of more elaborate numerical concepts. Chinese children have been shown to exhibit more elaborate numerical concepts than their non-Chinese peers, but it is still an open question whether similar cross-national differences exist with regard to the underlying systems, namely the ANS and the OTS. In the present study, we investigated this question by comparing Chinese and German preschool children with regard to their performance in a non-symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task (assessing the ANS) and in an enumeration task (assessing the OTS). In addition, we compared children’s counting skills. To ensure that possible between-group differences could not be explained by differences in more general performance factors, we also assessed children’s reasoning ability and processing speed. Chinese children showed a better counting performance and a more accurate performance in the non-symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task. These differences in performance could not be ascribed to differences in reasoning abilities and processing speed. In contrast, Chinese and German children did not differ significantly in the enumeration of small sets. The superior counting performance of Chinese children was thus found to be reflected in the ANS but not in the OTS.
Die Untersuchungen, deren Ergebnisse in den Heften 32 und 33 der Potsdamer Studien zur Grundschulforschung vorgelegt wurden, gingen den Fragen nach, was Kinder am Anfang und am Ende des ersten Schuljahres über die Größe Geld wissen, welche elementaren Fähigkeiten sie im Umgang mit Geld haben und wie sich diese Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten im Verlaufe des ersten Schuljahres weiterentwickeln. Mit den nun vorliegenden Ergebnissen unserer dritten Studie zum Thema Geld knüpfen wir an diese vorangegangenen Studien an. In diesem Heft wird dargestellt, welche Kompetenzen die an unseren Untersuchungen beteiligten Kinder am Ende der Klasse 2 besitzen und wie sich diese Kompetenzen im Vergleich zu den anderen Messzeitpunkten verändert haben. Außerdem sind wir der Frage nachgegangen, ob Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Vorwissen der Kinder bezogen auf unseren Untersuchungsgegenstand und den Rechenfähigkeiten am Ende der Klasse 2 bestehen. Im Ergebnis dieser Studien haben wir ein Modell für das Größenkonzept der Größe Geld entwickelt.