Sixty (35 girls and 25 boys) 9th-grade students' conceptual understanding of the number line was qualitatively assessed through verbal explanations and visual representations. The assessment included an open-ended question focused on students' number line descriptions and the explanations coalesced around six features: sequential ordering (i.e.,…

Understanding numerical magnitude is critical to the development of mathematics proficiency. Math interventions targeting magnitude knowledge have been shown to improve outcomes for students with math learning difficulties across grade levels. However, while recent studies have found that growth in magnitude knowledge mediates fractions…

Understanding numerical magnitude is critical to the development of mathematics proficiency, and math interventions targeting magnitude knowledge have been shown to improve outcomes for students with math learning difficulties across grade levels. While recent studies have found that growth in magnitude knowledge mediates fractions intervention…

Magnitude information, for instance, regarding weight, distance, or velocity, is crucial for planning goal-directed interactions. Accordingly, magnitude information, including numerical magnitude, can affect actions: Responses to small numbers are faster with the left hand than the right and vice versa (hand-based SNARC effect). Previous…

The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of how preschool teachers can use representations of different kinds to bring fore the mathematical content that may be afforded in pictures and narrative designed for numerical learning purposes. Seventy-three video documentations of reading sessions with 27 toddlers (1-3 years of age) over the…

Previous research has demonstrated a link between children's ability to name canonical finger configurations and their mathematical abilities. This study aimed to investigate the nature of this association, specifically exploring whether the relationship is skill and handshape specific and identifying the underlying mechanisms involved.…

During the preschool years, children are simultaneously undergoing a reshaping of their mental number line and becoming increasingly sensitive to the social norms expressed by those around them. In the current study, 4- and 5-year-old American and Israeli children were given a task in which an experimenter laid out chips with numbers (1-5),…

State Early Learning Standards (ELS) are multi-function tools that inform early childhood instruction and practices. Using an established framework of early numerical development, this study assessed the prevalence of number, number relations, and number operations indicators in ELS, specifically indicators of counting, numeral knowledge,…

Rational numbers (i.e., fractions, percentages, decimals, and whole-number frequencies) are notoriously difficult mathematical constructs. Yet correctly interpreting rational numbers is imperative for understanding health statistics, such as gauging the likelihood of side effects from a medication. Several pernicious biases affect health…

Studies on children's understanding of counting examine when and how children acquire the cardinal principle: the idea that the last word in a counted set reflects the cardinal value of the set. Using Wynn's (1990) Give-N Task, researchers classify children who can count to generate large sets as having acquired the cardinal principle…

Children vary widely in their number knowledge by the time they enter kindergarten, and this variation is related to their future academic success. Although talk about number predicts children's early understanding of foundational number concepts, we know little about whether interventions can increase this talk nor about the types of number talk…

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of ordinality skills in early numerical development. Here, we investigate individual differences in ordering sets of items and suggest that children might also differ in their tendency to spontaneously recognize and use numerical order in everyday situations. This study investigated the individual…

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 paper reports on a combined research-development project conducted in collaboration between researchers and preschool teachers in three Swedish preschools. The aim is to investigate how ongoing preschool activities may become the starting point for mathematics teaching in which toddlers are given the opportunity to distinguish necessary…

As adults, we represent and think about number, space, and time in at least two ways: our intuitive--but imprecise--perceptual representations, and the slowly learned--but precise--number words. With development, these representational formats interface, allowing us to use precise number words to estimate imprecise perceptual experiences. We test…