The effects of parental arithmetic ability and classroom instruction on individual differences in children’s arithmetic development

Arithmetic (e.g., 4 + 3 = 7 or 5 + 8 = 10 + 3 = 13) represents a core element of the mathematics curriculum in primary school, but some children have severe and persistent difficulties learning this basic competence, i.e. children with dyscalculia. My previous research showed that numerical magnitude processing skills or people’s elementary intuitions about quantity and their ability to understand the meaning of symbolic numbers, are stable predictors of future competence in arithmetic. The current project will help to further understand the origin of individual differences in arithmetic development by investigating parent-child similarity in arithmetic ability and arithmetic-related numerical magnitude processing skills. Discovering such an intergenerational link in arithmetic ability, will provide novel ways to detect very early (before schooling) children at risk for dyscalculia. Another question addressed in this research project is how the mathematical curriculum influences arithmetic learning, by for example instructing children to use arithmetic facts (3 + 2 = 5) instead of counting (3 + 2 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) from an early point on, as is the case in Flanders, Belgium. Such research can be of particular interest for children (worldwide) having difficulties learning arithmetic facts, i.e. children with dyscalculia, because it will form a scientific baseline for designing and developing innovative educational interventions.