Cognitive Science and Assessment, Education, Culture, Cognition and Society, University of Luxembourg Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Department for Educational Science and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2014 Apr 4;5:272. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00272. eCollection 2014.
Early number competence, grounded in number-specific and domain-general cognitive abilities, is theorized to lay the foundation for later math achievement. Few longitudinal studies have tested a comprehensive model for early math development. Using structural equation modeling and mediation analyses, the present work examined the influence of kindergarteners' nonverbal number sense and domain-general abilities (i.e., working memory, fluid intelligence, and receptive vocabulary) and their early number competence (i.e., symbolic number skills) on first grade math achievement (i.e., arithmetic, shape and space skills, and number line estimation) assessed 1 year later. Latent regression models revealed that nonverbal number sense and working memory are central building blocks for developing early number competence in kindergarten and that early number competence is key for first grade math achievement. After controlling for early number competence, fluid intelligence significantly predicted arithmetic and number line estimation while receptive vocabulary significantly predicted shape and space skills. In sum we suggest that early math achievement draws on different constellations of number-specific and domain-general mechanisms.
早期的数字能力,建立在数字特定和领域通用的认知能力基础上,被认为是以后数学成就的基础。很少有纵向研究测试过早期数学发展的综合模型。本研究使用结构方程建模和中介分析,考察了幼儿园儿童的非言语数字感和领域通用能力(即工作记忆、流体智力和接受性词汇)及其早期数字能力(即符号数字技能)对一年后一年级数学成绩(即算术、形状和空间技能以及数字线估计)的影响。潜在回归模型显示,非言语数字感和工作记忆是在幼儿园发展早期数字能力的核心组成部分,而早期数字能力是一年级数学成绩的关键。在控制早期数字能力后,流体智力显著预测算术和数字线估计,而接受性词汇显著预测形状和空间技能。总之,我们认为早期的数学成就依赖于不同的数字特定和领域通用机制的组合。