Young children's non‐numerical ordering ability at the start of formal education longitudinally predicts their symbolic number skills and academic achievement in maths. Issue 5 (25th January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: O'Connor, Patrick A.; Morsanyi, Kinga; McCormack, Teresa
• Is Part Of: Developmental science. Volume 21:Issue 5(2018)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2018-01-25
• Subjects: Developmental psychology -- Periodicals; Psychology, Comparative -- Periodicals; 155
• DOI: 10.1111/desc.12645
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1363-755X

Abstract

Abstract: Ordinality is a fundamental feature of numbers and recent studies have highlighted the role that number ordering abilities play in mathematical development (e.g., Lyons et al., 2014 ), as well as mature mathematical performance (e.g., Lyons & Beilock, 2011 ). The current study tested the novel hypothesis that non‐numerical ordering ability, as measured by the ordering of familiar sequences of events, also plays an important role in maths development. Ninety children were tested in their first school year and 87 were followed up at the end of their second school year, to test the hypothesis that ordinal processing, including the ordering of non‐numerical materials, would be related to their maths skills both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. The results confirmed this hypothesis. Ordinal processing measures were significantly related to maths both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally, and children's non‐numerical ordering ability in their first year of school (as measured by order judgements for everyday events and the parents' report of their child's everyday ordering ability) was the strongest longitudinal predictor of maths one year later, when compared to several measures that are traditionally considered to be important predictors of early maths development. Children's everyday ordering ability, as reported by parents, also significantly predicted growth in formal maths ability between Year 1 and Year 2, although this was not the case for the event ordering task. The present study provides strong evidence that domain‐general ordering abilities play an important role in the development of children's maths skills at the beginning of formal education. Abstract : This study investigated the role of non‐numerical ordering skills to the development of mathematical ability in children, who were just beginning primary school. The study found evidence of both cross‐sectional and longitudinal relationships between numerical and non‐numerical ordering skills, whilst non‐numerical ordering ability was the strongest predictor of maths. Furthermore, children's everyday ordering abilities significantly predicted growth in maths ability between Year 1 and Year 2. This study provides evidence of the importance of domain‐general ordering abilities in young children's maths skills at the beginning of formal education.