Focusing on numbers - An investigation of the role of children’s spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols in early mathematical development

Children start formal schooling with large individual differences in their mathematical competence. While some children can already perform simple calculations, others are still learning how to count small numerosities. This large variety in mathematical competence at the start of formal schooling can be explained by the early mathematical abilities children use in explicit mathematical situations, but to some extent also by their tendencies to spontaneously focus on mathematical aspects in everyday situations. Previous research has shown the importance of these spontaneous attentional processes particularly for children's spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON). The present dissertation aimed to contribute to this emerging field of spontaneous mathematical focusing tendencies by proposing a new construct of spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols (SFONS) different from SFON and investigating its role in early mathematical development in four related studies. In a first study, we measured SFONS for the first time and explored its concurrent association with SFON, numerical abilities, and teacher ratings of mathematical competence in the first, second, and third year of kindergarten (Chapter 2). We found large individual differences in children's SFONS and significant associations with their numerical abilities and teacher ratings of their mathematical competence. The second study further explored the validity of the novel SFONS construct by investigating its factor structure and exploring its unique contribution to numerical abilities and mathematics achievement in the second year of kindergarten (Chapter 3). We obtained empirical evidence for the hypothesized two-factor structure of SFON and SFONS and found that the latter uniquely predicted numerical abilities and mathematics achievement above age, parental education, spatial and verbal ability, and SFON. In a third study, we investigated the structure of children's spontaneous number focusing tendencies and their longitudinal associations with numerical abilities and mathematics achievement from the second year of kindergarten until first grade (Chapter 4). Results again provided evidence for the distinctiveness of SFONS and SFON and revealed moderate associations with numerical abilities and mathematics achievement across development. In a final study, we explored the origins of individual differences in children's spontaneous number focusing tendencies by relating SFON and SFONS to the home numeracy environment in the second and third year of kindergarten (Chapter 5). We found no significant associations between children's spontaneous number focusing tendencies and the frequency of numeracy activities at home and their parents' numeracy expectations. These four studies are preceded by an introductory chapter (Chapter 1) and followed by a general discussion chapter wherein the main conclusions and the theoretical, methodological, and educational implications of these four studies are discussed (Chapter 6).

Jaar van publicatie:2021

Toegankelijkheid:Open