Linear Representations of Two-Digit Numbers Promote First Graders' Estimation

• In Event: 14.046 - Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: 14.046-3 - Answering Important Questions About Mathematics Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Recent studies showed that children’s understanding of numerical magnitudes is a strong predictor of later mathematics performance. The current study tested three different approaches to promoting children’s acquisition of numerical magnitudes using base 10 blocks. Thirty-one first graders were assigned to one of the three conditions in which they learned how to construct two-digit numbers in a linear fashion using: unit blocks only, unit blocks and one 10 block, and unit and 10 blocks. The results showed this last group outperformed the others on the numerical magnitude estimation task. Thus gaining a sense of 10ness in a linear fashion appears effective in improving children’s sense of numerical magnitudes.

Authors

• Yu Zhang, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Yukari Okamoto, University of California - Santa Barbara