The development of maths skills Flashcards
Whats maths?
The study of quantitative relations, in early dev focused on cs understanding numbers
Where is early maths though to arise from?
Through innate knowledge, experience, informal learning and imitation
- maths learning is cumulative
Why are maths skills so important ?
- number is a central dimension of human experience
- we need to understand number in order to understand other dimensions like
- TIME
- DISTANCE
- SPEED
daily life: - STATISTICS
- MONEY AND FINANCE
- HEALTH INFO e.g. diet info/medicines
Why are early math skills so important ?
1) early math skills predict overall school success
- maths skills predicted achievement throughout school
- math skills @ school entry predict reading achievement more than literacy skills
2) good math skills predicts success in other areas
- financial decision making
- effects on understanding medical info = link to ill health which limits SES
- good maths in early childhood= predicts college completion and SES
What are the individual differences in maths skills?
- childrens maths skills are very poor
= 64% of 10yrs dont have proficient maths skills
what does understanding skills that underpin success at maths help us do?
work out how we can help cs through designing effective interventions to support children
At what age can cs discriminate on the basis of small numerosities ?
0
what age can discriminates increasing from dreacreasing sequences of numerosities ?
11months
What age do cs begin to learn sequences of counting words and do one to one correspondence in a sharing task?
2yrs
what age can cs recognise that number words mean more than one ‘grabber’?
2yrs 6mnths
what age can cs count small numbers of objects and recognise transformations that affect number?
3yrs
what age can cs use the cardinality principle to establish numerousity of set ?
3yrs 6 months
What age can children use fingers to aid adding?
4yrs
what does Feigenson, Carey & Hauser 02 demonstrate?
number sense in infancy 10/12mnths presented w two boxes - 1 = 2 crackers - other = 3 crackers FOUND: infants will crawl to the one with the most crackers BUT random when quantities more than 4
What study demonstrates number sense in infancy?
Starkey & Cooper 1980
- 4mth old infants looked longer at quantities that were different from before
SUGGESTING they recognised the quantity changed
SO UNDERSTAND DIFFERENT QUANTITIES
BUT only w nos less than 4
= infants can discriminate between nos less than 4
What evidence is there for an early general magnitude system?
= for time, space and number - small objects = shown for less time, and should have less amount compared to big objects - more = more across dimensions = big size= more quantity= lasts longer lourenco and longo 10
What 4 informal maths skills develop before children start school?
1) Non-symbolic quantity understanding
2) Numerical equality
3) Counting
4) Number magnitude
= foundation for more complex maths thinking
What does non-symbolic quantity understanding refer to ?
-Knowledge of the magnitude of a set of items without the need to use verbal or symbolic names
= foundation for learning verbal labels for arithmetic
- 3/4yrs non-symbolic quanity skills predict their maths achievement scores 6mths later = libertus, feigenson & halberda 13
What is subitizing?
the ability to know the number of a set of objects without counting them
What is number equality ?
understanding that sets of different objects that have the same no. have something in common e.g. twoness
= emerges early dev around 6mnths wynn 95
At what age can most children count to 10 successfully ?
3yrs old
= whnn 1990
What happens at age 3 regarding counting?
1) one to one correspondence = each object must be labelled by a single number word
2) stable order= nos should be recited in order
3) cardinality = the no of objects in a set coresponds to the last no stated
4) order irrelevance - objects can be counted in any order
5) abstraction - any set of objects/events can be counted
what can counting skills at age 5 predict?
Maths achievement at age 8
= aunola et al 04
what is numerical magnitude estimation?
the understanding that quantities are ordered along a less-to-more dimension
e.g. 6 is smaller than 8
= predicts maths achievement
- may seem easy but not
