Non Verbal Communication

Question 1

Symbolic Representation

Answer 1

A process whereby an entity becomes a representation for something else
Number
Ideograms and/or Pictograms / Egyptian hieroglyphs

Question 2

Logographic / Non-alphabetic scripts

Kimura & Bryant (1983) Japanese

Answer 2

e.g. Chinese
Large number of symbols & Learning takes a long time
Kimura & Bryant (1983) –  Japanese 
Kana – alphabetic - syllabic - easier
Kanji – traditional logographic

Question 3

Braille - Pring (1994)

Why does it take children over a year to learn the braille alphabet? (4 reasons)

Answer 3

1. Letters more similar
2. Discriminating by touch harder than by vision
3. Early reading experience very different
4. Exposure - Sighted children exposed to print from very early on. Blind children have little experience of Braille until they are introduced to it
   Millar (1997) – great load on memory

Question 4

Barlow-Brown (1996) – taught Braille to sighted children in 4 conditions. What did they find?

Answer 4

Learned more quickly in the visual conditions.

Question 5

Habituation paradigm - Antell & Keating (1983)

Starkey, Spelke & Gelman (1983)

Answer 5

A method used for investigating the ability of infants to discriminate between stimuli by measuring preferential looking times.
Newborns can discriminate 2 objects from 3.
Starkey, Spelke & Gelman (1983) - also auditory

Question 6

Wynn (1992) How many months old do infants have numerical understanding?

Answer 6

5 months
Looked longer when test condition violated rules of addition & subtraction
Understanding that if 1 object is added to another, there should be 2 there

Question 7

Gallistel & Gelman (1992) - ‘accumulator’

Answer 7

Non-verbal counting mechanism
Sort of mental ‘measuring cup’
Impulses generated at a steady rate are accumulated according to the total to be counted

Question 8

Which approach says we are born with a core number knowledge

Answer 8

Nativist approach

Question 9

Alternative constructionist approach to counting - e.g. Sophian, Mix

Answer 9

Argues number knowledge acquired through knowledge of category – you need to know the category before you can count how many.

Question 10

Subitising - how many objects can adults ‘subitise’ without counting?

Answer 10

Adults – 3 to 4 objects without counting

Question 11

Subsitising - how many ms accroding to Mandler & Shebo (1982) to asses 3 rather than 2?

Answer 11

Aapprox 40ms to assess 3 rather than 2

380ms to assess 7 rather than 6

Question 12

Counting 2.5ys, 3.5 yrs & 5.5yr olds - Starkey & Cooper (1995)
Do children’s counting skill arise from the ability to subitise?

Answer 12

2.5 yr olds not yet able to count
Show two displays – “Are there the same number of items?”
Reliable judgements up to 3 items
Four or more item – performance at chance
Improves to reliable up to 4 items by 3.5 yrs
No further improvement up to 5.5yrs
Argue that children’s counting skill arise from the ability to subitise.

Question 13

What are Gelman & Gallistel (1978)’s 3 principles in learning to count?

Answer 13

One-to-one correspondence
Stable order
Cardinality

Question 14

Durkin et al (1986) - what are children’s first number word and when is it produced? What can children do by 3 years?

Answer 14

First number word ‘two’ just after 1yr, before numbers part of expressions.
By 3yrs produce number sequences independently.

Question 15

What makes counting easier according to Fuson (1988)? And how many can 5yr olds count in this case?
Who supports this?

Answer 15

Counting easier if objects lined in row. 5yr olds could count linear arrays up to 40.
Nunes & Bryant (1996) – linear arrays make one-to-one correspondence easier

Question 16

What is the addition strategy used by 5 and 6 yr olds according to Riley, Greeno & Heller (1983)?

Answer 16

A counting ALL strategy if the numbers are small and they had blocks to represent the numbers.

Question 17

What, according to Groen & Parkman, is a sign of an understanding of equivalence or commutativity?

Answer 17

Progress from ‘count on’ to ‘min’ in addition equations.

Question 18

Microgenetic Method (Min stratergy) - Siegler & Jenkins (1989)

Answer 18

Longitudinal study of 4-5yr olds
Qualitative and quantitative Data collected on accuracy, speed & strategy use
Aims to infer underlying representations & processes involved
& Found multiple strategy usage - wave model

Question 19

Counting aloud is replaced by subvocal counting, what is the next stage?

Answer 19

Replaced by retrieval – answer recalled from memory of previous additions.
Choice algorithm.

Question 20

According to Nunes & Bryant (1996), 5-6yr olds who have problems writing numbers reflected confusions with what?

Answer 20

Zero as a place holder.

Question 21

What is Place Value?

Answer 21

Place value = Understanding the relations between columns in multi-digit numbers.

Question 22

What do children need an understanding of before successful at computing with multi-digit numbers

Answer 22

Place value and that 0 is a place holder.

Question 23

What, according to Brown & Burton (1978) is a major predictor multi-digit maths success?

Answer 23

Place value and place holder knowledge a major predictor multi-digit maths success.

Question 24

Why, according to Stevenson / Perry, are Asian children perform at higher level? (3 reasons)

Answer 24

Teachers more likely to ask conceptual questions
Spend longer receiving maths education
Number systems - Regular number system makes it easier to build understanding of place value and additive composition. E.g. Easier to know what ‘ten seven’ is compared with ‘seventeen’.

Question 25

What is Dyscalculia?

Answer 25

Difficulty understanding simple number concepts
Lack an intuitive grasp of numbers
Problems learning number facts and procedures
Take much longer to do simple sums
Effects 3 – 6% population