Encoding Numerical Patterns (Poster 46)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 3:20 p.m.
  In Invited Poster Session: 2025 AERA Undergraduate Fellows Research Poster Fair

Abstract

Base-10 knowledge is the understanding of the patterned relationship between numbers in the decimal system, operating on powers of 10. Prior research indicates that classroom tool design influences acquisition of base-10 understanding (Bower et al. 2024) and mediates students’ use of mental strategies (Beishuizen, 1993).

This study investigates how five-year-olds’ encoding of base-10 patterns is influenced by the visual structure of a board game—specifically, comparing a design that explicitly aligns numerical relationships reflective of base-10 patterns to one that visually obscures these relationships. Using a between participants, pre-test, training, post-test design, this experiment will compare the effects of engaging with a visually aligned game board, formatted after a hundreds chart, as opposed to a snaked game board, modeled after “Chutes and Ladders.” Students will meet with experimenters for 6 sessions of 30 mins each, distributed across 3 weeks.

The focus of this poster is the encoding assessment, measured at pre- and post-test. During the encoding task, students are given 30 seconds to examine a game board (aligned or snaked) before it is removed from sight. Participants are then asked to locate a target number between 1 and 100 on a blank grid, given a single number prompt or no prompt for spatial orientation. Accuracy on this task indicates students’ encoding of the numerical relationships of the board (Chi et al., 1978). We hypothesize that students’ performance on this task will increase at post-test, after game play experience, and additionally, that children in the aligned condition will better encode base-10 patterns.
 

Author

• Comfort Avery Randolph, Vanderbilt University