A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Preschool Children’s Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity, Subitizing, and Counting Skills as Predictors of Their Mathematical Performance Seven Years Later at School
Authors: Minna M. Hannula-Sormunen, Erno Lehtinen, Pekka Räsänen
Publisher: Routledge
Publication year: 2015
Journal: Mathematical Thinking and Learning
Journal name in source: Mathematical Thinking and Learning
Volume: 17
Issue: 2-3
First page : 155
Last page: 177
Number of pages: 23
ISSN: 1532-7833
eISSN: 1532-7833
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10986065.2015.1016814(external)
Web address : http://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84928942138(external)
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 skills and SFON on mathematical performance at 12 years. Early mathematic skills do not predict reading skills at 12 years. Children’s early numerical skills, including SFON, before school age are important contributors to substantially later success in school mathematics.