Developmental Relations Among Three Cognitive Processes and Mathematics Achievement in Young Children

• In Event: Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: STEM Learning and Instruction in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The cognitive processes that support children’s early mathematical development, as well as the longitudinal and dynamic interplay among these processes, are not well-understood. This study utilized an auto-regressive, cross-lag approach to examine longitudinal and reciprocal associations among fine motor skills, attention, and visuo-motor integration, and mathematics achievement in a diverse sample of 136 kindergarten and 120 first grade students over the course of two school years. The general pattern of associations over time between fine motor skills, attention, and visuo-motor integration are best described as transactional in nature, with more reciprocal transactions occurring in kindergarten than in first and second grades. These three processes also were intricately linked to mathematics achievement. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Authors

• Helyn Kim, University of Virginia

• Chelsea Duran, University of Virginia

• Claire E Cameron, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• David W Grissmer, University of Virginia