Maths Skills

Question 1

What is maths?

Answer 1

The study of quantitive relations

Numbers make it possible for people to understand and manipulate quantities in very precise ways

Question 2

Early maths skills are thought to arise through….

Answer 2

Innate knowledge
Experience
Informal learning
Imitation

Question 3

Maths understanding is…

Answer 3

Cumulative, early learning sets the foundation for later learning

Question 4

We need to understand number in order to understand….

Answer 4

Distance 
Time 
Speed 
Statistics 
Money and finance 
Health information (dietary information or medicine dosage)

Question 5

Early maths skills predict overall school success

Answer 5

Maths skills at school entry predicted maths achievement throughout school, above and beyond general cognitive ability

Question 6

Maths skills at school entry predict ____ achievement more than _____ skills

Answer 6

Reading

Literacy

Question 7

Agarwal & Mazumdea (2013)

Answer 7

Maths skills are associated with successful financial decision making

Question 8

Berkman et al (2011)

Answer 8

Low maths skills are linked to ill health, due to understanding of medical information

Question 9

Ritchie & Bates (2013)

Answer 9

Good maths skills in early childhood predicts college completion and SES age 42 after controlling for IQ and years in education

Question 10

About _____ of 10 year olds do not have proficient maths skills

Answer 10

64%

Question 11

Cardinality principle

Answer 11

The last number you say is how many items there are

Develops around 3.5

Question 12

Number sense in infancy - dots

Answer 12

Show infants a series of dots until they look away
Then show them the same number of dots or different
4 month olds looked longer at quantities which were different from before
Recognise that it had changed, recognise different quantities
Specific to quantities between 0-4

Question 13

Number sense in infancy - crackers

Answer 13

10 and 12 month olds are presented with two boxes, one with two crackers and one with three
Infants will crawl to the one with the most crackers but are random when the quantity is more than 4

Question 14

Lourenco & Longo (2010)

Answer 14

Infants may have a general magnitude system for time, space and number
Infants were shown that small objects were white with dots and big objects were black with stripes
Looked longer when they were shown an incongruent array

Question 15

Four informal maths skills develop before children start school

Answer 15

Non-symbolic quantity understanding
Numerical equality
Counting
Numerical magnitude estimation

Question 16

Non-symbolic quantity understanding

Answer 16

Knowledge of the magnitude of a set of items without the need to use verbal or symbolic names

Question 17

Subitizing

Answer 17

Knowing the number of a set of objects without counting them (less than 5)

Question 18

Numerical equality

Answer 18

Sets of different objects that have the same number have something in common

Question 19

Counting

Answer 19

By age 3 most children can count to 10 successfully

Question 20

Counting principles

Answer 20

One-to-one correspondence - each object must be labelled by a single number word
Stable order - should be recited in an order
Cardinality - number of objects in a set corresponds to the last number stated
Order irrelevance - objects can be counted in any order
Abstraction - any set of objects or events can be counted

Question 21

Numerical magnitude estimation

Answer 21

The understanding that quantities are ordered on a less-to-more dimension
Regardless of whether the number is distance, weight or time

Question 22

Cognitive model of maths - Geary (2004)

Answer 22

Difficulties in maths may be caused by cognitive difficulties further downstream
Central executive supports conceptual and procedural skills
Modality-specific systems represent the information (visuospatial and language system)

Question 23

Central executive skills

Answer 23

High-level cognitive skills involved in coordinating and executing goal-directed behaviour
Working memory
Inhibitory control

Question 24

Modality-specific systems

Answer 24

Support the maintenance and processing of information specific to either verbal or visuospatial information
They aren’t necessarily linked

Question 25

Poor visuospatial skills will affect…

Answer 25

Column arithmetic
Visual attention and monitoring
Number magnitude and estimation
Representing numbers in spatial format

Question 26

Poor verbal skills will affect…

Answer 26

Counting

Remembering facts like times tables

Question 27

Dyscalculia

Answer 27

A specific learning disorder characterised by impairments in learning basic arithmetic facts, processing numerical magnitude and performing accurate and fluent calculations
Often have higher than average IQ

Question 28

How many children have dyscalculia?

Answer 28

Around 5-8%

As widespread as dyslexia

Question 29

What causes dyscalculia?

Answer 29

Deficit in…
Numerosity OR
Central executive skills

Question 30

Dyscalculia explained by deficit in numerosity

Answer 30

Children with dyscalculia do not subitize in a dot-matching task, they count them

Question 31

Dyscalculia explained by deficit in central executive skills

Answer 31

May use counting strategies as they cannot successfully represent the information in working memory
Might retrieve the wrong strategy as they cannot inhibit other information
Memory span in children with dyscalculia is usually lower than controls and is correlated with maths difficulties

Question 32

Age 0 milestone

Answer 32

Can discriminate on the basis of small numerosities

Question 33

Age 11 months milestone

Answer 33

Discriminates increasing from decreasing sequences of numerosities

Question 34

Age 2 milestone

Answer 34

Begins to learn sequence of counting words

Can do one-to-one correspondence in a sharing task

Question 35

Age 2 and 6 months milestone

Answer 35

Recognises that number words mean more than one

Question 36

Age 3 milestone

Answer 36

Counts out small numbers of objects

Can recognise transformations that affect number

Question 37

Age 3 and 6 months milestone

Answer 37

Can use cardinality principle to establish numerosity of a set

Question 38

Age 4 milestone

Answer 38

Can use fingers to aid adding