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Rebecca Patterson

PLOS ONE: Adolescents' Functional Numeracy Is Predicted by Their School Entry Number Sy... - 0 views

www.plosone.org/...10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0054651

numeracy number system school knowledge math counting innumeracy

shared by Rebecca Patterson on 27 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • One in five adults in the United States is functionally innumerate; they do not possess the mathematical competencies needed for many modern jobs.
  • Measures used in these economic studies typically include word problems that require whole number arithmetic, fractions, simple algebra, and measurement, with performance on these tests predicting employability and wages in adulthood, controlling for other factors
  • Previous studies revealed that some aspects of young children’s basic knowledge of counting, numbers, and simple arithmetic predicts later mathematics achievement; specifically, skill at judging the relative magnitudes of Arabic numerals, the sophistication of the approaches they use to solve arithmetic problems, and an understanding of the mathematical number line
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  • The four most common strategies were counting fingers, verbal counting, retrieval (quickly stating an answer and describing they “just remembered”), and decomposition (describing that they solved the problem by decomposing one addend and successively adding these smaller sets to the other addend; e.g., 17+8 = 17+3+5).
  • finger-counting trials have the longest RTs, followed respectively by verbal counting, decomposition, and direct retrieval
  • At school entry, this emerging knowledge of the number system includes an understanding of the relative magnitude of numerals, their ordering, and the ability to combine and decompose them into smaller and larger numerals and to use this knowledge to solve arithmetic problems.
  • At the same time, children’s skill at using counting procedures to solve addition problems at the beginning of first grade was not predictive of their later functional numeracy scores, holding other factors constant.
  • In short, the functional numeracy assessment appears to capture individual differences in adolescents’ developing economically-relevant competencies above and beyond those captured by standard mathematics achievement tests.
  • Children scoring in the bottom quartile on the numeracy measure in seventh grade started school behind their peers in number system knowledge and showed less rapid growth from first to second grade, but typical growth thereafter.
  • Rebecca Patterson on 27 Sep 13
     
    ..Whole number arithmetic, fractions, simple algebra, and measurement, with performance on these tests predicting employability and wages in adulthood, controlling for other factors.
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