Children's Mathematical Skills Research Articles

Enhancing Early Mathematical Skills Through Math Games

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of game-based mathematical activities on the development of preschool children's mathematical skills. A total of 54 children, aged between 60-72 months, participated in the research, with 26 in the experimental group and 28 in the control group, using a semi-experimental model with a pre-test post-test control group design. The children in the experimental group designed their own mathematical games with the guidance and support of their parents. Subsequently, they introduced these games to their classmates and played them together in their classrooms. Data were collected through the Revised Early Numeracy Test and focus group interviews. The findings have shown that the intervention significantly improved the children's mathematical skills. The initial score difference in mathematical skills favoring the control group was closed after the intervention. In addition, a significant increase with a big effect size in mathematical skill scores was observed in the experimental group children. It was also revealed that children in the experimental group enjoyed the mathematical activities and expressed their willingness to participate again. The findings were discussed, taking into account the role of game-based mathematical activities and parental support in the development of early math skills.

An Overview of Dyscalculia from the Perspective of Mathematics Teachers

This study was conducted using the phenomenological research design to examine mathematics teachers’ common experiences who were aware of dyscalculia and who thought they had students with dyscalculia diagnosed with learning disabilities.The study also aimed to reveal the common perception. The participants were seven elementary mathematics teachers from public schools in the provinces Van and Urfa. Ethical permission was obtained from the Scientific Ethical Evaluation Committee of the Dean of the Faculty of Education of Yüzüncü Yıl University on: 24.03.2024 with the number: 21788. Semi-structured interview was used, supported by video and audio recordings. The data were analyzed using descriptive and content analyses. Reflecting on their experiences, the teachers said students with dyscalculia were mostly introverted and asocial and they had problems in many areas of mathematics like performing four operations, rhythmic counting, multiplication tables, reading clock and expressing place and direction. As the most appropriate teaching approach to be applied to students with dyscalculia, the teachers mentioned demonstrating and teaching how to do, teaching mathematics through games, individualized teaching, associating with daily life, applying activity-based and technology-supported teaching approaches. Moreover, the teachers reported they needed family and expert support regarding the interventions for the development of children's mathematical skills.

Tackling the gender gap in mathematics with active learning methodologies

Gender gaps in mathematics are at the root of gender differences in human capital accumulation, but the role of teaching practices on such gaps has been underinvestigated. We implement a teaching methodology to improve children's mathematical skills and evaluate the causal effect of the intervention on the gender gap in mathematics in Italy with a randomised controlled trial. The methodology, grounded in active and cooperative learning, focuses on peer interaction, sharing of ideas, learning from mistakes, and problem-solving. The treatment significantly improves girls’ math performance (0.14 standard deviations), with no impact on boys, and reduces the math gender gap by about 40 %. The effect is stronger for girls with high pre-test scores.

Learning by parenting: How do mothers respond to their children's developmental declines?

Children's developmental processes are not always linear. During the childhood period, children usually experience ups and downs in their skills, and how parents respond to these changes can crucially condition the subsequent process of child development. This paper examines (1) how children's developmental declines impact the level of cognitive stimulation implemented by the mothers, and (2) whether these effects vary by socioeconomic groups. Using longitudinal NLSY79-CYA data from the US, I implement a series of two-way fixed effects and fixed effects counterfactual models. Findings show that mothers respond negatively to the declines in their children's mathematical skills by decreasing their levels of cognitive stimulation, although the effects are relatively small, approximately one-tenth of a standard deviation. This effect is concentrated among mothers with low levels of education or those at the bottom part of the income distribution. Additionally, it's observed that mothers in the sample do not modify their behaviours in response to declines in their children's reading skills. All in all, this evidence suggests that mothers might be reinforcing existing disadvantages by decreasing their cognitive stimulation when their children show developmental declines and that this mechanism could be responsible for broadening the developmental gap between children from low- and high-socioeconomic backgrounds.

The home mathematics environment and its relation to children's mathematical skills for Chinese families

The home mathematics environment of preschoolers is related to their mathematical performance. Information about the home mathematics environment in China is sparse, however. Accordingly, we developed and tested a culturally relevant home mathematics environment questionnaire for Chinese families. In Study 1 (n = 376), exploratory factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed four activity factors: Informal, Basic Formal, Advanced Formal, and Spatial. In Study 2 (n = 353), the general structure of the questionnaire was evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis. Some minor changes were made to the questionnaire. In Study 3, 137 caregivers completed the refined questionnaire and their children were tested on fundamental mathematical skills. As in research from Western countries, Chinese parents' reports of the frequency of advanced mathematical activities were positively correlated with their preschoolers' mathematical skills. This study provides comparative data from China about the home mathematics environment and broadens the scope of research beyond Western countries. Educational relevance statementWe developed a questionnaire with high reliability and strong validity, demonstrating that it is a useful tool for assessing the home mathematics environment of Chinese families. The work adds to the literature on the home mathematics environment more generally and provides comparative data from China. We found that the performance of Chinese preschool children on mathematical tasks was related to the frequency of advanced but not basic formal mathematical activities, highlighting the similar relations between the home mathematics environment and children's mathematics performance across the world.

Building Numeracy Skills: Associations between DUPLO® Block Construction and Numeracy in Early Childhood.

Research shows that children's block construction skills are positively associated with their concurrent and later mathematics performance. Furthermore, there is evidence that block construction training is particularly beneficial for improving early mathematics skills in children from low-Socio Economic Status (SES) groups who are known to have lower maths performance than their peers. The current study investigates (a) the association between block construction and mathematics in children just before the start of formal schooling (4 years-of-age in the UK) and (b) whether the association between block construction and mathematics differs between children from more compared to less affluent families. Participants in this study included 116 children (M = 3 years 11 months, SD = 3 months) who all completed numeracy, block construction, and receptive vocabulary tasks. Socio-economic status and demographic information (child age, gender, ethnicity) were also obtained from parents. Findings show a strong positive association between block construction and early numeracy skills. Block construction skills explained approximately 5% of the variation in numeracy, even after controlling for age in months, household income, and child receptive vocabulary. When separated by SES group, for children from less affluent families, block construction explained a significant amount of variability (14.5%) in numeracy performance after covariates. For children from more affluent families, block construction did not explain a significant amount of variation in numeracy. These findings suggest that, interventions involving block construction skills may help to reduce SES-based attainment gaps in UK children's mathematics achievement.

Early home learning support and home mathematics environment as predictors of children's mathematical skills between age 4 and 6: A longitudinal analysis using video observations and survey data.

This large-scale and longitudinal study examines early home support for learning, formal/informal home mathematics activities, and their associations with children's mathematical development between age two and six. Data were collected in Germany between 2012 and 2018, N = 1184 (49% girls, 51% boys), and 15% of children had parents with a migration history. Linguistically and mathematically stimulating, attentive, and responsive parent-child engagement at age two predicted children's mathematical skills at age four and six (small-to-medium effect size). Both formal and informal home mathematical activities at age five predicted children's mathematical skills at age six (small effect size), and were associated with children's prior mathematics attainment. This study also provides indicators where individual differences and social circumstances are relevant to understanding different early mathematics outcomes.

To what extent do home numeracy practices and parental number talk relate to children's math skills? A pre-registered study in 5-year-old children

A growing number of studies suggest a relation between young children's math skills and their home numeracy environment (HNE), typically assessed through home numeracy practices and parental number talk. However, studies are characterized by heterogeneity in methods, analytic strategies, and results. Here we tested prevalent models of the HNE via a pre-registered study to reduce analytic flexibility and distinguish between confirmatory and exploratory findings. A wide range of mathematical skills was measured in 128 5-year-old children, while their HNE was assessed via a parental questionnaire evaluating the frequency of home numeracy practices and a direct measure of parental number talk during a free-play session in the lab. Contrary to our hypotheses, we did not find any predicted relation between children's mathematical skills and parental number talk or frequency of informal practices at home. However, as predicted, we confirmed a relation between formal advanced numeracy practices and symbolic mathematical skills.

The role of executive function in shaping the longitudinal stability of math achievement during early elementary grades

There is substantial rank-order stability in children's mathematical skills throughout development. Research has shown that children who enter school with relatively low math skills are unlikely to catch up to peers who begin kindergarten with more developed math skills. Emerging evidence suggests that children's executive function skills might play an important role in shaping the rate and stability of mathematical skill development during early development. Therefore in the present study, we used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort 2010-11—a prospective sample of over 18,000 children in the United States—to examine executive function as an antecedent to characteristics of growth in math skills and to test whether executive function moderates the longitudinal stability of math achievement from kindergarten through second grade. Latent growth curve models reveal that executive function is related to not only the level of math skills at school entry but also to the rate of growth in early elementary years. Moreover, we found that executive function moderated the stability of math achievement from kindergarten to second grade, suggesting that early executive function skills can serve as a compensatory mechanism for children who enter school with lower levels of mathematical skills. These findings might have important implications for narrowing gaps in math achievement during early elementary school.

The playful learning curriculum: A randomized controlled trial

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Norway has play, exploration, and discovery as foundations for children's learning, but lacks a curriculum that describes and supports principles of playful learning. The present study examines the effects of the Playful Learning Curriculum in ECEC on children's school readiness skills in the play-based ECEC context of Norway. A total of 96 ECEC centers signed up for the project and recruited 1,313 children. Centers were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 49) and a control group (n = 47). Intervention centers were asked to implement the curriculum for at least eight hours per week for nine months, and control centers continued as usual. Outcomes included the Ani Banani Math Test (ABMT), the Preschool Early Numeracy Skills Screener (PENS), the Norwegian Vocabulary Test (NVT), and the Weschler's Intelligence Digit Span Test (DS). Analyses clustered by centers and controlling for blocks showed a significant effect of the intervention on children's mathematics skills, ABMT (d =.079, p =.03) and PENS (d =.104, p =.01), but no significant effects on working memory assessed by DS (d =.070, p =.14) or expressive vocabulary assessed by NVT (d = -.011, p = .65). This study shows that a well-defined age-appropriate curriculum based on playful learning may strengthen children's preschool mathematics skills in a play-based ECEC context.

Exploring effects of an early math intervention: The importance of parent-child interaction.

We explore whether training parents' math skills or playing number games improves children's mathematical skills. Participants were 162 parent-child dyads; 88.3% were white and children (79 female) were 4 years (M=46.88 months). Dyads were assigned to a number game, shape game, parent-only approximate number system training, parent-only general trivia, or a no-training control condition and asked to play twice weekly for 8 weeks. Children in the number game condition gained over 15% SD on an assessment of mathematical skill than did those in the no-training control. After 8 additional weeks without training, effects diminished; however, children of parents in the ANS condition underperformed those in the no-treatment control, which was partially explained by changes in the home numeracy environment.

“I did it wrong, but i know it”: Young children's metacognitive knowledge expressions during peer interactions in math activities

Previous studies reveal that children's metacognitive skills make massive progress during the early childhood period. We believe that examining how children use metacognitive skills in the learning process is crucial for shaping future learning experiences. This case study explores how children's metacognitive knowledge emerges through peer interactions in mathematical measurement activities. Sixteen activities based on the dimensions of mathematical measurement skills of length, area, weight, and volume were applied and video recorded. We systematically observed two 5-year-old children in these activities for 10 weeks. A framework of analysis was developed from the results of previous research on children's metacognition. Children's metacognitive knowledge was analyzed in mathematical statements and other variables were also extracted. Using qualitative analysis, this study indicates how children's mathematical thinking skills are reflected in their expressions of metacognitive knowledge during peer interactions. Difficulties in assessing and measuring children's metacognition are also discussed.

The Effects of the Mathematics Education Program Supported by Stories on the Mathematical Skills of 48'60-Month-old Children

This study aims to develop a mathematics education program supported by stories for 48–60-month-old children attending pre-school education institutions and examine its effect on children's early mathematics skills. The study group consists of 48–60-month-oldchildren who continue pre-school education in an independent kindergarten affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Usak province, in 2020-2021.The study was carried out with 33 children, 18 in the experimental and 15 in the control group. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with a control group was used in the study. Test of Early Mathematics Ability -3 (TEMA-3), developed by Ginsburg and Barody, was used to collect data. The test's adaptation, validity, and reliability to 48-60-month-old Turkish children had been conducted by Seker (2013). Regarding data collection, TEMA-3 was administered as a pre-test to the experimental and control group students before implementing the program. After the pre-test, the "Mathematics Education Program Supported by Stories" was instructed to the experimental group three (3) days a week for eight (8) weeks. During the implementation, "Mathematics Education Program Supported by Stories" was instructed to the children in the experimental group by the researcher; the daily education flow specified in the 2013 Pre-School Education Program was continued for the control group children. The data obtained from the research were analyzed with the SPSS statistical program. Independent and dependent t-tests were used to test the difference between the pre-test and post-test between and within groups. Based on the findings obtained from the analyzes, there was no significant difference between the pre-test scores. However, there was a significant difference between the post-test scores in favor of the experimental group. It was concluded that the mathematics education program supported by stories effectively improved children's mathematics skills.

Erken Matematik Ölçeği’nin Türkçeye uyarlanması: Geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması

Matematiksel kavram ve becerilerin gelişiminde erken çocukluk döneminin son derece etkili ve önemli olduğu bilindiği için çocukların matematik becerileri okulda ve evde sistemli matematik programlarıyla desteklenmelidir. Dolayısıyla öğretmenlerin ve ebeveynlerin işbirliği içinde çalışmaları gerekmektedir. Ebeveynlerin matematik etkinliklerine katılımları çocukların matematiksel gelişimlerine katkı sağlamaktadır. Ebeveynlerin matematik etkinliklerine katılımlarının yanı sıra ebeveynlerin matematik inançları da çocukların matematiksel gelişimlerini etkilemektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı Missall ve diğerleri (2015) tarafından geliştirilen ve orijinal adı “Early Math Questionnaire” olan Erken Matematik Ölçeği’ni Türkçeye uyarlamak ve ölçeğin geçerlik ve güvenirliğini test etmektir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu okul öncesi dönemde çocuğu olan ve araştırmaya gönüllü olarak katılan 205 ebeveyn oluşturmuştur. Erken Matematik Ölçeği’nin orijinali, Matematik Etkinlikleri ve Matematik İnançları olmak üzere iki bölümden oluşmaktadır. Yapılan Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA) sonucunda Matematik Etkinlikleri Bölümünün dört alt boyut ve 36 maddeden oluştuğu bulunmuştur. Ölçeğin Matematik Etkinlikleri Bölümünün genel Cronbach Alfa (α) ve McDonald Omega (ω) güvenirlik katsayıları sırasıyla .966 ve .988 olarak bulunmuştur. Matematik İnançları Bölümünün iki alt boyut ve sekiz maddeden sekiz maddeden oluştuğu bulunmuştur. Ölçeğin Matematik İnançları Bölümünün genel Cronbach Alfa (α) ve McDonald Omega (ω) güvenirlik katsayıları sırasıyla .842 ve .883 olarak bulunmuştur. Bu sonuçlar Erken Matematik Ölçeği’nin Türkçe formunun geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı olduğunu göstermektedir.

Conceptualizing the factor structure of parents' math anxiety and associations with children's mathematics skills.

There is a growing literature examining the association between parents' math anxiety and children's mathematics skills. Previous research has considered parents' math anxiety as a unidimensional construct that primarily focused on parents' experiences doing mathematics themselves. However, this research did not account for parents' experiences when doing mathematics with their children. Thus, there were two goals of the present study: (1) to identify the structure of parents' math anxiety when considering context-dependentsituations, and (2) to determine whether parental math anxiety was related to children's early numeracy skills. We conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyses using a sample of 155 preschool children (Mage =4.20 years, SD=0.71; 51% female). The best fitting model of parents' math anxiety was a bifactor model, suggesting that parents' math anxiety was best conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. However, structural equation models showed parent math anxiety was not a significant predictor of children's numeracy performance. These findings provide a foundation for understanding parents' math anxiety as multidimensional and raise questions about potential mechanisms that may explain prior work finding mixed relations between math anxiety and children's numeracy performance.

Absolute and Relative Judgment Accuracy: Early Childhood Teachers' Competence to Evaluate Children's Mathematical Skills.

This study examined absolute and relative judgment accuracies of German early childhood (EC) teachers with respect to the mathematical skills of the children under their supervision. The two types of judgment accuracies are crucial prerequisites for pacing activities in EC education and offering differentiated educational activities adapted to individual skill levels of children. Data from 39 EC teachers and 268 children were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Teachers rated the skills of children on a structured observation instrument (“Kinder Diagnose Tool,” KiDiT). Children were assessed on their mathematical skills with a standardized test (“Mathematische Basiskompetenzen im Kindesalter,” MBK-0). On average, 65% of the variation in judgments of teachers on the KiDiT could be explained by MBK-0 scores of children, which suggest that teachers are—on average—able to rank children within their groups. Teachers were also able to judge the mathematical level of skills of children as assessed by the MBK-0. Neither mathematical content knowledge (MCK) of teachers nor their mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) or general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) moderated the relationship between judgments of teachers and test scores of children or the relationship between the level of the judgments and the level of test scores. Conclusions for future research and practice are drawn.

Effect of coding activities on preschool children's mathematical reasoning skills.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of coding activities on children’s mathematical reasoning skills. In the study, the pre-test – post-test control group quasi-experimental design was used. The participants of the study consisted of 29 children (17 in experiment group and 12 in control group) aged between 57 – 68 months attending a public kindergarten in Adana, Turkey. Coding Education Program prepared by the researchers was administered to the children in the experiment group while the children in the control group received the regular program. Evaluation Instrument for the Early Mathematical Reasoning Skills was administered to children both in the experimental and control group as pre-test and post-test. Data was collected by individual interviews conducted with the children. Results of the study showed that there is no significant difference between experimental and control group in the pre-test, whereas a significant difference in favor of the experimental group was observed in the post-test. Therefore, it was determined that the coding activities have a significant effect on mathematical reasoning skills of children.

Longitudinal Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Parental Difficulties on Reading and Math Development Across Grades 1-9.

This study focuses on parental reading and mathematical difficulties, the home literacy environment, and the home numeracy environment as well as their predictive role in Finnish children’s reading and mathematical development through Grades 1–9. We examined if parental reading and mathematical difficulties directly predict children’s academic performance and/or if they are mediated by the home learning environment. Mothers (n = 1590) and fathers (n = 1507) reported on their reading and mathematical difficulties as well as on the home environment (shared reading, teaching literacy, and numeracy) when their children were in kindergarten. Tests for reading fluency, reading comprehension, and arithmetic fluency were administered to children in Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9. Parental reading difficulties predicted children’s reading fluency, whereas parental mathematical difficulties predicted their reading comprehension and arithmetic fluency. Familial risk was associated with neither formal nor informal home environment factors, whereas maternal education had a significant relationship with both, with higher levels of education among mothers predicting less time spent on teaching activities and more time spent on shared reading. In addition, shared reading was significantly associated with the development of reading comprehension up to Grades 3 and 4, whereas other components of the home learning environment were not associated with any assessed skills. Our study highlights that taken together, familial risk, parental education, and the home learning environment form a complex pattern of associations with children’s mathematical and reading skills.

Examining the Factor Structure of the Home Mathematics Environment to Delineate Its Role in Predicting Preschool Numeracy, Mathematical Language, and Spatial Skills.

A growing body of evidence suggests that the ways in which parents and preschool children interact in terms of home-based mathematics activities (i.e., the home mathematics environment; HME) is related to children’s mathematics development (e.g., primarily numeracy skills and spatial skills); however, this body of evidence is mixed with some research supporting the relation and others finding null effects. Importantly, few studies have explicitly examined the factor structure of the HME and contrasted multiple hypothesized models. To develop more precise models of how the HME supports children’s mathematics development, the structure of the HME needs to be examined and linked to mathematics performance. The purpose of this study was to extend prior work by replicating the factor structure of the HME (as one general HME factor and three specific factors of direct numeracy, indirect numeracy, and spatial) and using those factors to predict direct assessments of children’s numeracy, mathematical language, and spatial skills. It was hypothesized that the general HME factor would be related to each direct assessment, the direct numeracy factor would be related to both numeracy and mathematical language, and the spatial factor would be related to spatial skills. Using a sample of 129 preschool children (M age = 4.71 years, SD = 0.55; 46.5% female), a series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Results diverged somewhat from prior work as the best fitting model was a bifactor model with a general HME factor and two specific factors (one that combined direct and indirect numeracy activities and another of spatial activities) rather than three specific factors as had previously been found. Further, structural equation modeling analyses suggested that, in contrast to expectations, only the direct + indirect numeracy factor was a significant predictor of direct child assessments when accounting for age, sex, and parental education. These findings provide evidence that a bifactor model is important in understanding the structure of the HME, but only one specific factor is related to children’s outcomes. Delineating the structure of the HME, and how specific facets of the HME relate to children’s mathematics skills, provides a strong foundation for understanding and enhancing the mechanisms that support mathematics development.

Early mathematical education in narrative contexts and the local environment

The article describes the implementation of the project that took the form of a teaching experiment. The “Myśleć jak architect” [en. “Think like an Architect”] project was aimed at developing children's spatial, mathematical and creative skills, integrating the social environment: academic, educational, family and cultural, and promoting science. Its essence was to design and conduct a mathematical and creative didactic cycle in the university space and in the local cultural space. The essence of educational meetings were: play, tasks, games and mathematical problems undertaken and solved by children in active and creative action, also using innovative teaching materials. The workshop didactic program was designed as a cycle of 12 hours of didactic classes, in which there was a deliberate use of rhymes, poems, fairy tales and mathematical narratives. The project lasted from November 2018 to May 2019. The beneficiaries of the project were the oldest pre-schoolers and younger students from grades I-III, in 9 groups, each consisting of 12 people. The study confirmed the effectiveness and attractiveness of integrating literature with mathematics and learning mathematics in various areas. The study has shown that the strategies for teacher management of construction play using narration are an important and effective ways of supporting the development of a child's mathematical thinking.