Mathematics is pivotal in the contemporary technology-driven world. However, poor mathematical performance continues to be a concern in many countries. Guided by Mathematics in a Cultural Context (MCC) framework, this article investigates the similarities, differences, and potential reasons behind early numeracy achievement in South Africa and…

Background: Recent research suggested fluent processing as an explanation on why number sense contributes to simple arithmetic tasks--'Fluency hypothesis'. Aims: The current study investigates whether number sense contributes to such arithmetic tasks when other cognitive factors are controlled for (including those that mediate the link); and…

Research Findings: In this research, 487 Chinese children age 3 to 5 years took part in a number line estimation task. This task was used to assess children's estimation accuracy and their estimation patterns along a number line in two different estimation circumstances. Situation A had the same line lengths for different numeric ranges, whereas…

Previous studies have uncovered the relationship between handwriting and mathematics performance, without articulating the underlying cognitive mechanism. With 197 Chinese fourth graders as participants, this study explored the mechanism by which the spacing/spatial relationship in handwriting legibility affects number-line estimation through VMI.…

Research Findings: Low-socioeconomic status (SES) (intervention group, n = 31; control group, n = 32) and middle/high-SES (reference group, n = 33) 5-year-old Chinese kindergartners were screened through SES and IQ test. Their number sense was examined over five time points. The pretest was conducted at the beginning of the fall semester, followed…

In this chapter, we review two approaches for understanding these national differences in math abilities. The first approach attempts to link cross-national differences in educational input to cross-national differences in test scores. A tacit assumption of this approach is that children's performance on tests of mathematics is a direct effect of…

In this study, a situation-based interactive e-book system was developed for improving children's learning performance of numerical operations. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system, an experiment was conducted in one kindergarten. The results showed that the proposed approach significantly improved the children's learning achievements.…

The aim of this digital storytelling (DST) study was to investigate how students acquire twenty first-century competencies, here focusing on active knowledge creation and collaboration in math learning. The study also examined how engaged the students were in DST lessons and what teachers' perceptions of DST were as a learning method.DST was…

As a key concept in early mathematics curriculum, number sense is crucial for children's learning of other mathematics concepts. An earlier curriculum with a strong focus on number sense development presumably helps children perform better in mathematics later on. Chinese students outperformed their United States (U.S.) peers on number sense at…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 14th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2017), 18-20 October 2017, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) and endorsed by the Japanese Society for Information and Systems in…

Explains how to use the Chinese numeration system to enhance student understanding of place value. Includes sample activities. (Author/NB)