3-067 - Using Strategies as a Crystal Ball: Which Strategies Predict Mathematics Achievement?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The relation between early and later development is a key theoretical question in child development research. In academic domains, such as mathematics, better understanding of this issue also has practical implications. Understanding which early strategies support later mathematics achievement can positively impact the design of early instruction.

The four papers in this symposium focus on identifying which strategies relate to mathematics achievement. The first two address arithmetic strategies. The relation between cross-national first-graders’ use of a decomposition strategy and their accuracy on complex arithmetic problems was examined. Children’s use of a decomposition strategy, along with numeric fluency, accounted for cross-national differences in the accuracy of performance on challenging arithmetic tasks. The authors longitudinally examined whether young girls’ early use of decomposition and retrieval strategies benefits their later math performance. Girls’ higher use of decomposition strategies in first-grade predicted their fifth-grade arithmetic fluency and math reasoning skills. The second two papers discuss estimation strategies. Children’s use of a midpoint strategy on a number line estimation task was examined. Preschoolers with better ordinal knowledge were more likely to execute a midpoint strategy. Use of this strategy, in turn, led to more accurate number line estimates. Authors examined the relation between older children’s estimation strategies, conceptual understanding of the number line and mathematics achievement. Conceptual knowledge of the number line, and not estimation strategies, was related to second, fourth, and sixth-graders’ mathematics achievement. These four papers investigate the important topic of strategies and mathematics performance.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chairs

• Elida V Laski, Boston College

• Marina Vasilyeva, Boston University

Individual Presentations

• Computational Fluency and Strategy Choice Mediate Cross-National Differences on Complex Arithmetic Tasks - Presenting Author: Marina Vasilyeva, Boston University; Elida V Laski, Boston College

• Girls’ Arithmetic Strategies in First Grade as Predictors of Fifth Grade Arithmetic Fluency and Analytical Math Reasoning Skills - Presenting Author: Beth M Casey, Boston College; Caitlin S Lombardi, Boston College; Amanda Pollock, Boston College; Bonnie Fineman, Boston College; Elizabeth Pezaris, Boston College; Eric Dearing, Boston College

• Changes in Preschooler’s Strategies on the Number Line Task: Effect of a Mid-point Reference - Presenting Author: Chang Xu, Carleton University; Jo-Anne LeFevre, Carleton University

• Number-Line Estimation and Mathematical Achievement - Presenting Author: Carley G. Piatt, University of Alberta; Jeffrey Bisanz, Univ of Alberta; Joanne Volden, University of Alberta