Research Findings: Shared-picture book reading can stimulate children's mathematical development. Evidence of learning-supportive characteristics in picture books is limited in this domain. A first step is systematically analyzing the occurrence of domain-specific features in publicly available picture books. We analyzed the occurrence of general…

The present study aimed to analyze the direction of the associations between repeating patterning, growing patterning, and numerical ability. Participants were 410 children who were annually assessed on their repeating patterning, growing patterning, and numerical ability, at ages 4, 5, and 6 years (i.e., spring 2017, 2018, and 2019). A…

Computational estimation is seen as an important mathematical competence. Little is known, however, about the mathematical skills that are predictive of early computational estimation development. The current study longitudinally followed a group of about 350 children at four time points: second (K2, 4-year-olds) and third grades of kindergarten…

Research distinguishes three types of arithmetic: exact arithmetic, computational estimation and approximate arithmetic. Little is, however, known about the interrelationship among these three arithmetic skills and the general cognitive and early numeracy skills that underlie these arithmetic skills. The current study investigates this…

Children's spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols (SFONS) has been identified as a relevant component of their early mathematical development. This study investigated whether SFONS is a separate construct from spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) and examined whether it is uniquely related to numerical abilities and mathematics…

This longitudinal cross-lagged panel study investigated the development of the structure of young children's spontaneous number focusing tendencies and their longitudinal associations with numerical abilities and mathematics achievement over the course of a 3-year period, that is, in the second and third year of kindergarten and in first grade of…

A growing body of research has shown that symbolic number processing relates to individual differences in mathematics. However, it remains unclear which mechanisms of symbolic number processing are crucial--accessing underlying magnitude representation of symbols (i.e., symbol-magnitude associations), processing relative order of symbols (i.e.,…

Young children show large individual differences in their tendency to focus spontaneously on numerical aspects (e.g., numerosities or Arabic number symbols) of their everyday environment. The origins of these individual differences are unclear. Given the role of the home numeracy environment (HNE) in children's early mathematical development and…

Numerical competencies acquired in preschool are foundational and predictive for children's later mathematical development. It remains to be determined whether there are gender differences in these early numerical competencies which could explain the often-reported gender differences in later mathematics and STEM-related abilities. Using a…

Young children's early repeating patterning abilities are important foundations for their later mathematical development. Prior studies on young children's repeating patterning abilities have been conducted exclusively in developed countries differing in economic, societal, and educational characteristics from developing countries. In this study,…

Children's spontaneous focusing on Arabic number symbols (SFONS) has been identified as a relevant component of their early mathematical development. This study investigated whether SFONS is a separate construct from spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) and examined whether it is uniquely related to numerical abilities and mathematics…

Background: Young children's spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) as measured by experimental tasks is related to their mathematics achievement. This association is hypothetically explained by children's self-initiated practice in number recognition during everyday activities. As such, experimentally measured SFON should be associated with…

Children's own spontaneous mathematical activities are crucial for their mathematical development. Mathematical thinking and learning does not only occur in explicitly mathematical situations, such as the classroom. Those children with higher tendencies to recognize and use mathematical aspects of their everyday surroundings, both within the…

Children start preschool with large individual differences in their early numerical abilities. Little is known about the importance of heterogeneous patterns that exist within these individual differences. A person-centered analytic approach might be helpful to unravel these patterns and the cognitive and environmental factors that are associated…

In this commentary we take a critical look at the various studies being reported in this issue about the relationship between cognitive neuroscience and mathematics, from a mathematics education viewpoint. After a discussion of the individual contributions, which we have grouped into three categories--namely neuroscientific studies of (a)…