Recruiting spatial-numerical representations to increase arithmetic fluency in low-income students.

This study examined the effects of training involving spatial versus nonspatial representations of numerical magnitude for promoting arithmetic fluency. The key goal was to advance theoretical understanding of the relation between spatial and math learning, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the development of future educational interventions. Toward this goal, the study tested the hypothesis that the use of spatial representations during training facilitates arithmetic fluency via improvements in numerical magnitude knowledge.

Home math environment as a mediator of socioeconomic differences in early math skills: A study of Chinese families from disparate backgrounds.

Children exhibit substantial variation in their early math skills, with pronounced achievement gaps by socioeconomic status (SES) observable even before formal schooling. These SES-related differences in math skills are long-standing and globally observed, prompting investigations into how SES variations in home math environment contribute to early math development. The present study employed a mixed-methods design to examine the relations among SES, key aspects of home math environment, and early math skills in a non-Western context.

Spontaneous focus on numerosity in parents of preschoolers: Is it related to the math input they provide?

There is substantial variability among parents in the amount of math input they provide at home, which is related to differences in children's early math knowledge. The current study examined whether parents' spontaneous focus on numerosity (SFON) predicts the math input they provide at home-in terms of both their math talk and frequency of math activities. Parents (N = 124) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in China were presented with a SFON picture task.

Knowing what they know: Preschool teachers' knowledge of math skills and its relation to instruction.

Math experiences during the preschool years play an important role in children's later math learning. Preschool teachers exhibit considerable variability in the amount and types of mathematics activities they engage in with their students; one potentially important source of these individual differences is adults' knowledge of early math development. The current study aimed to describe preschool teachers' knowledge of numeracy, patterning, and spatial/geometric skills developed in preschool and its relation to their reported mathematics instruction.

Spatial-Numerical Magnitude Estimation Mediates Early Sex Differences in the Use of Advanced Arithmetic Strategies.

An accumulating body of literature points to a link between spatial reasoning and mathematics learning. The present study contributes to this line of research by investigating sex differences both in spatial representations of magnitude and in the use of arithmetic strategies, as well as the relation between the two. To test the hypothesis that sex differences in spatial-numerical magnitude knowledge mediate sex differences in the use of advanced strategies (retrieval and decomposition), two studies were conducted.