Predicting children's mathematical performance in grade one by early numeracy
Abstract This longitudinal study examined how children's early numeracy assessed in kindergarten predicts their mathematical performance in the first grade, after controlling for the effects of age, gender, and parents' education. The participants were 212 Finnish children (107 girls and 105 boys). At the time of the first assessment (kindergarten), the mean age was six years, and the second assessment was conducted one year later. The results demonstrate that the acquisition of counting and relational skills before formal schooling are predictive of the acquisition of basic arithmetical skills and overall mathematical performance in grade one, above and beyond the effects of demographic fa…
Core numerical skills for learning mathematics in children aged five to eight years – a working model for educators
The aim of this study was to model the most crucial numerical factors to the development of mathematical skills among children aged five to eight years (i.e. kindergarten, preschool, first and second graders). We categorised numerical skills into four main groups based on the results of longitudinal studies. A series of analyses of test batteries designed to measure the development of mathematical skills in children yielded results in support of this construct. Based on our findings we propose a working model for teachers of core numerical skills that focuses on four major factors: (1) symbolic and non-symbolic number sense; (2) understanding mathematical relations (early mathematical-logic…
A pilot study of the effects of RightStart instruction on early numeracy skills of children with specific language impairment
This pilot study investigated the effects of an early numeracy program, RightStart Mathematics (RS), on Finnish kindergartners with specific language impairment (SLI). The study applied a pre-test-instruction-post-test design. The children with SLI (n=9, Mage=82.11 months) received RS instruction two to three times a week for 40 min over seven months, which replaced their business-as-usual mathematics instruction. Mathematical skill development among children with SLI was examined at the individual and group levels, and compared to the performance of normal language-achieving age peers (n=32, Mage=74.16 months) who received business-as-usual kindergarten mathematics instruction. The childre…
Cognitive and Academic Outcomes of Fundamental Motor Skill and Physical Activity Interventions Designed for Children with Special Educational Needs: A Systematic Review
This systematic review aimed to investigate the methodological quality and the effects of fundamental motor skills and physical activity interventions on cognitive and academic skills in 3- to 7-year-old children with special educational needs. The review was reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) statement. A literature search was carried out in April 2020 (updated in January 2022) using seven electronic databases, including ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, PubMed, and SPORTDiscus. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed with Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) Quality Asses…
The effects of motor skill and physical activity interventions on preschoolers' cognitive and academic skills: A systematic review
The present systematic review aimed to investigate the methodological quality and the effects of fundamental motor skills and physical activity interventions on cognitive and academic skills in typically developing 3 to 7-year-old children. The review was conducted and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. A literature search was carried out in April 2020 using seven electronic databases. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed with the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) Quality Assessment Tool. Cohen's d effect size calculations and post hoc power analyses were conducted for the in…
A Review of Early Numeracy Interventions for Children at Risk in Mathematics
This study reviewed early numeracy interventions for four- to seven-year-old children at risk for mathematics difficulties. The search yielded 19 peer-reviewed studies with pre- and post-treatment control designs. The interventions were categorised as either core or supplemental instruction. The study analysed the effectiveness and identified the pedagogical components of the interventions: setting, duration, numeracy content used for intervention training and progress measurement, conductor and professional developmental support offered, and instructional design features. The interventions showed, to various degrees, the promising effect of improving the early numeracy skills of at-risk ch…
Early numeracy in low‐performing young children
The aim of this study was to explore the early numeracy of low‐performing young children. The mean age of the children was six years and four months. The 511 participants belonged to three groups: multi‐language children, children with special educational needs and children with average performance. The results showed that there were significant group differences in early numeracy: the children in the reference group had better relational and counting skills than those with a multi‐language background and those with special educational needs. Some differences were found in counting skills between the children with multi‐language background and those with special educational needs. Finally, …
Reliability and validity evidence of the early numeracy test for identifying children at risk for mathematical learning difficulties
Abstract This study investigated reliability and validity evidence regarding the Early Numeracy test (EN-test) in a sample of 1139 Swedish-speaking children (587 girls) in kindergarten (n = 361), first grade (n = 321), and second grade (n = 457). Structural validity evidence was established through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which showed that a four-factor model fit the data significantly better than a one-factor or two-factor model. The known-group and cross-cultural validity were established through multigroup CFAs, finding that the four-factor model fit the gender, age and language groups equally well. Internal consistency for the test and sub-skills varied from good to excellen…
Identifying childhood movement profiles and comparing differences in mathematical skills between clusters : A latent profile analysis
The aims of this study were; 1) to identify different movement profiles in sixth graders, and 2) to investigate if there are differences in their mathematical basic (BasicMath) and problem solving (ProbSol) skills between existing movement profiles. The sample included 461 (223 girls, 238 boys) students with a mean age of 11.27 +/- .32 years from southern and middle Finland. A latent profile analysis (LPA) revealed four movement profiles: "poor movers", "average movers", "skilled movers" and "expert movers". These profiles differed substantially in their motor competence (MC) and health-related fitness (HRF). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) also revealed that "poor movers" and …
A systematic review of functional numeracy measures for 9–12 -year-olds: Validity and reliability evidence
This systematic review aimed to summarize the characteristics and the measurement properties of functional numeracy measures developed for use by teachers among 9–12-year-old children with or without mathematical learning difficulties. A systematic search from five databases was conducted based on pre-defined criteria. PRISMA guidelines were followed for reporting the results. The terminology and classification of measurement properties adopted by the COSMIN taxonomy was used. Twenty-one studies of 18 measures met the inclusion criteria. Most of the identified measures did not report on several measurement properties due to incomplete or missing psychometric data. Knowledge of Mathematical …
Working memory resources in young children with mathematical difficulties.
Working memory (WM) (Baddeley, 1986, 1997) is argued to be one of the most important cognitive resources underlying mathematical competence (Geary, 2004). Research has established close links between WM deficits and mathematical difficulties. This study investigated the possible deficits in WM, language and fluid intelligence that seem to characterize 4- to 6-year-old children with poor early mathematical skills before formal mathematics education. Children with early mathematical difficulties showed poor performance in both verbal and visuospatial WM tasks as well as on language tests and a fluid intelligence test indicating a thoroughly lower cognitive base. Poor WM performance was not mo…
Combining Numerical Relational and Fundamental Motor Skills to Improve Preschoolers’ Early Numeracy : A Pilot Intervention Study
The aim of this pilot study was to examine the immediate and long-term effects of an intervention program that aims to improve preschoolers' (Le but de cette étude pilote était d'examiner les effets immédiats et à long terme d'un programme d'intervention qui vise à améliorer les compétences précoces en numératie des enfants d'âge préscolaire (N = 36, M = 4.49 ans, SD = 0.35) en combinant l'apprentissage des compétences par la lecture d'histoires avec la pratique des habiletés motrices fondamentales. Le programme d'intervention a été piloté avec deux plans d'étude : un plan à mesures répétées intra-sujet avec 18 enfants (étude I) et un plan d'étude quasiexpérimental avec 18 enfants (étude II…
Associations between physical activity, motor skills, executive functions and early numeracy in preschoolers
We investigated direct and indirect cross-sectional associations of physical activity, fundamental motor skills, executive functions, and early numeracy in preschoolers. The participants were 214 preschoolers aged three to five years. Time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity was measured by hip-worn accelerometers and fundamental motor skills using the tasks assessing locomotor, object control, and stability skills. Inhibition/switching and working memory/updating, as components of executive functions, were assessed by computerized tests and a standardized test was used to assess early numeracy. Path analyses were used to examine direct and indirect associations between the con…