Maths

Question 1

in younger children

Answer 1

early understanding = 4-5 years

arises from innate knowledge + experience + informal learning + imitation

Question 2

cumulative

Answer 2

learning in early years acts as a foundation

Question 3

why are maths skills important?

Answer 3

predict overall success in school (Duncan et al - maths at entry predicts throughout)

predicts success in other domains - financial decision making, medical info, college completion, SES age 42

Question 4

individual differences

Answer 4

Butterworth (2012)
age 0 - can discriminate between small numerosities (under 4 numbers prior to age 1)
3.5 - cardinality principle - last number you count represents amount
3 - if you ask the number of objects there, they will just count
4 - use fingers - able to do simple sums

Question 5

numbers in infancy

Answer 5

Starkey and Cooper (1980)
4 months - can discriminate between 2 and 3 dots

Feigenson, Carey and Houser (2002)
10-12 months - go to a box with more crackers in it

Question 6

early magnitude system

Answer 6

general magnitude system for time, space and number

Lorenco and Longo (2010)
infants habituated to certain types of stimuli
small objects = white, big objects = black
investigated whether this transferred to quantity and duration
infants looked longer at incongruent trials (white objects shown for longer or contained more)

more across dimensions

Question 7

development of early maths skill

Answer 7

4 develop before school:

non-symbolic thinking

number equality

counting

numerical magnitude estimation

Question 8

non-symbolic thinking

Answer 8

knowledge of the magnitude of a set of items without labels
subitizing - know the number of a set of items without counting
3-4 years - good at this

Question 9

number equality

Answer 9

sets of different objects with the same number have something in common

6 months - emerges

Question 10

counting

Answer 10

age 3 - most children can count to 10

one-to-one correspondence - each unit labeled by a single word
stable order - numbers should be recited in order
cardinality - last number corresponds to amount
order irrelevance - objects can be counted in any order
abstraction - any set of objects can be counted

Question 11

numerical magnitude estimation

Answer 11

using number lines
understand that numbers go from less to more dimensionally
doesn’t matter what numbers refer to

Question 12

cognitive model of maths

Answer 12

Geary (2004)
deficits in the maths domain are caused by cognitive difficulties downstream
central executive skills support conceptual and procedural skills
modality specific systems (visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop) represent the information

central executive - coordinates and executes goal directed behaviour (inhibitory control - suppress distracting information)

language system and visuospatial sketchpad
modality specific systems - support maintenance and processing
visuospatial = column work
verbal skills = poor counting and word problems are hard

Question 13

dyscalculia

Answer 13

impairments in learning basic arithmetic facts, processing magnitude and poor calculation skills

5-8% of school children

numerocity deficit (Koontz & Berch, 1996)
dont subitize (difficulties in understanding)

central executive skill (Geary, 2004)
more general deficit - may use immature strategies