Unravelling computational estimation development in 5- to 7-year-olds.

Computational estimation is omnipresent in our everyday lives (Northcote & McIntosh, 1999) but many adults and children seem to be surprisingly bad at it (Siegler & Booth, 2005). A systematic literature review (Chapter 2) revealed that most research on computational estimation involved participants starting from the age of 8. However, a limited number of studies showed that computational estimation already develops starting from the age of 5 (Dowker, 1997, 2003; Jordan, Mulhern, & Wylie, 2009). These studies in young children focused mostly on the development in estimation performance and only to a limited extent on children's strategy use. Given the paucity of findings on the early development of computational estimation, the current doctoral research project aimed at unravelling the emergence and early development of computational estimation within the context of a longitudinal study. Three main elements were investigated: (1) the development of both early estimation performance and strategy use, (2) the relationship between early computational estimation and early exact and approximate arithmetic, and (3) the factors that might explain individual differences in early computational estimation. The first two empirical studies focused on the early development of computational estimation by looking at both performance and strategy use. This was assessed with a nonverbal estimation task variant in third grade of kindergarten and first grade of primary school (Chapter 3) and a verbal variant in first and second grade of primary school (Chapter 4). Both studies showed an age-related increase in estimation performance already before the age of 8. In addition, children's strategy use evolved with age. The study in Chapter 3 investigated material solution strategies and showed an age-related increase in counting behavior, which positively predicted estimation accuracy in first grade of primary school. The study in Chapter 4 investigated mental strategies and showed an age-related increase in the use of strategies that showed some basic, rough understanding of computational estimation. The study in Chapter 5 investigated the similarities and differences in children's computational estimation, exact arithmetic, and approximate arithmetic performance in third grade of kindergarten. We demonstrated that the three arithmetic skills can be disentangled and that different processes underlie each of these arithmetic skills. In addition, positive correlations between all three skills were observed. These results suggest that computational estimation, exact arithmetic, and approximate arithmetic are three distinct but related constructs. In a last empirical study we investigated the domain-general and domain-specific factors that predicted estimation performance throughout the development from third grade of kindergarten until second grade of primary school (Chapter 6). Results showed that both domain-general and domain-specific skills were important for computational estimation throughout this developmental period. We end this doctoral thesis with a concluding chapter in which we provide an overview of the main conclusions from these studies, together with some theoretical, methodological, and educational considerations.

Jaar van publicatie:2020

Toegankelijkheid:Closed