Prematurity and overlap between reading and arithmetic: The cognitive mechanisms behind the association
It is well-known that very preterm children perform at lower levels than full-term children in reading and arithmetic at school. Whether the lower performance levels of preterm children in these two separate domains have the same or different origins, however, is not clear. The present study examined the extent to which prematurity is associated with the overlap (i.e., common variance) of reading and arithmetic among Finnish school beginners. We also examined the extent to which the association of prematurity with the overlap between reading and arithmetic is due to different prereading skills, basic number skills, and general cognitive abilities. The participants (age 6-7) consisted of 193…
Preschool Children’s Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity, Subitizing, and Counting Skills as Predictors of Their Mathematical Performance Seven Years Later at School
This seven-year longitudinal study examined how children’s spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), subitizing based enumeration, and counting skills assessed at five or six years predict their school mathematics achievement at 12 years. The participants were 36 Finnish children without diagnosed neurological disorders. The results, based on partial least squares modeling, demonstrate that SFON and verbal counting skills before school age predict mathematical performance on a standardized test for typical school mathematics in Grade 5. After controlling for nonverbal IQ, only SFON predict school mathematics. Subitizing-based enumeration skills have an indirect effect via number sequence s…
Early mathematical skill profiles of prematurely and full-term born children
Abstract Preterm birth is associated with low mathematical skills in children. This study on five-year-old Finnish children investigated whether mathematical skill profiles would differ between prematurely and full-term born children and how such profiles and other cognitive skills would be related. Mathematical skills included digit knowledge, spontaneous focusing on numerosity, arithmetic, counting and geometric skills. The investigated cognitive skills were phonological processing, working memory, instruction comprehension, speeded naming, inhibition and visuomotor skills. The participants were 119 preterm children with birth weight
Adaptive Number Knowledge in Secondary School Students: Profiles and Antecedents
Cited By :1 Export Date: 10 February 2021 Correspondence Address: McMullen, J.; Department of Teacher EducationFinland; email: jake.mcmullen@utu.fi The present study aims to examine inter-individual differences in adaptive number knowledge in secondary school students. Adaptive number knowledge is defined as a well-connected network of knowledge of numerical characteristics and arithmetic relations. Substantial and relevant qualitative differences in the strategies and expression of adaptive number knowledge have been found in primary school students still in the process of learning arithmetic. We present a study involving 879 seventh-grade students that examines the structure of individual…