Relation between general vocabulary knowledge and early numeracy competence: The mediating role of mathematical language.

Early language skills are considered important precursors of early mathematical development. Prior research extensively explored the association between vocabulary and early numeracy. However, few studies have delved into the specific impact of mathematical language on this association.

Parents' use of sustained shared thinking during joint mathematics activities with young children: An investigation of its measurement, antecedents, and outcomes.

Background And Aims: There is currently a dearth of tools to assess parents' use of effective interactive strategies for supporting early mathematics learning. One potential such strategy is sustained shared thinking. This study therefore constructed and validated a scale for measuring parents' use of sustained shared thinking during joint mathematics activities with young children, and examined its antecedents and outcomes.

Integrating Fundamental Movement Skills and Mathematics in Early Childhood: A Pilot Study.

This project involved a co-design process involving researchers and kindergarten teachers to produce learning activities that integrated fundamental movement skills (FMS) and mathematics. We piloted the co-designed activities (i.e.

Gendered pathways to socioemotional competencies in very young children.

Parent-child and teacher-child relationship closeness have been shown to be crucial for children's development of socioemotional competencies from preschool to school-age stages. However, less is known about the importance of developing close relationships with young infants and toddlers attending childcare group settings for their early socioemotional development. The current study aimed to address this gap and to explore how child gender may influence the associations.

Mechanisms underlying the relations between parents' perfectionistic tendencies and young children's mathematical abilities.

Background: Parents' high academic expectations are positively associated with young children's mathematical abilities. However, minimal attention has been devoted to whether, and how, different ways of conveying the performance targets would result in different outcomes.

Aims: The current study investigated whether and how parents' perfectionistic strivings and concerns were associated with young children's mathematical abilities through home mathematical activities, children's approach motivation to learn mathematics, and children's avoidance motivation to learn mathematics.

Visuospatial perspective-taking in social-emotional development: enhancing young children's mind and emotion understanding via block building training.

Background: Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to represent one's own and others' mental states, and emotion understanding involves appropriately comprehending and responding to others' emotional cues in social interactions. Individual differences in mind and emotion understanding have been associated strongly with verbal ability and interaction and, as such, existing training for children's ToM and emotion understanding is mostly language-based. Building on the literature on embodied cognition, this study proposes that mind and emotion understanding could be facilitated by one's visuospatial experience in simulating other's frames of reference.

Next Directions in Measurement of the Home Mathematics Environment: An International and Interdisciplinary Perspective.

This article synthesizes findings from an international virtual conference, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), focused on the home mathematics environment (HME). In light of inconsistencies and gaps in research investigating relations between the HME and children's outcomes, the purpose of the conference was to discuss actionable steps and considerations for future work. The conference was composed of international researchers with a wide range of expertise and backgrounds.

The roles of different executive functioning skills in young children's mental computation and applied mathematical problem-solving.

This study investigated the relationships of four executive functioning skills (including verbal working memory, spatial working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility) with young children's mental computation and applied mathematical problem-solving. Two hundred and twenty-five Chinese kindergarteners were tested with a battery of general cognitive, executive functioning and mathematics skills. Results showed that when children's age, gender, non-verbal intelligence, and listening comprehension skills were controlled, verbal working memory and cognitive flexibility were significant correlates of mental computation, whereas verbal working memory, spatial working memory, and cognitive flexibility were significant correlates of applied mathematical problem-solving.

How do phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and vocabulary contribute to early numeracy and print knowledge of Filipino children?

The current study investigated the contributions of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and vocabulary to early numeracy and print knowledge developmental trajectories. A total of 128 young Filipino children were tracked three times at mean ages of 4.5, 5.

Home Literacy and Numeracy Environments in Asia.

The home learning environment includes what parents do to stimulate children's literacy and numeracy skills at home and their overall beliefs and attitudes about children's learning. The home literacy and numeracy environments are two of the most widely discussed aspects of the home learning environment, and past studies have identified how socioeconomic status and parents' own abilities and interest in these domains also play a part in shaping children's learning experiences. However, these studies are mostly from the West, and there has been little focus on the situation of homes in Asia, which captures a large geographical area and a wide diversity of social, ethnic, and linguistic groups.

Parents' characteristics, the home environment, and children's numeracy skills: How are they related in low- to middle-income families in the Philippines?

The home numeracy environment is often assumed to play a role in early numeracy development. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the home numeracy environment of children living in low- to middle-income communities in the Philippines. Moreover, it examined the relations among various parents' characteristics, the home numeracy environment parents created, and their young children's numeracy skills.

Cognitive and Affective Correlates of Chinese Children's Mathematical Word Problem Solving.

Mathematical word problem solving (MWPS) involves multiple steps, including comprehending the problem statements, determining the arithmetic operations that have to be performed, and finding the answers. This study investigated the relative contributions of different cognitive and affective variables to children's MWPS. To achieve this goal, 116 third-grade Chinese children were tested.

Family and individual variables associated with young Filipino children's numeracy interest and competence.

Children's early numeracy outcomes set the foundation for mathematics learning in their future school years. This study examined how different family and individual variables were associated with the numeracy interest and competence of disadvantaged young children in the Philippines. The numeracy and literacy skills of 673 children living in low-middle income communities were tested.

The role of early language abilities on math skills among Chinese children.

Background: The present study investigated the role of early language abilities in the development of math skills among Chinese K-3 students. About 2000 children in China, who were on average aged 6 years, were assessed for both informal math (e.g.