The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review

The processing of numerical information is a dominant feature of everyday life. Whether it is in the context of financial transactions, such as shopping for groceries or in gauging how many people are in a room, we are constantly using numerical in...

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Main Author: Ansari, Daniel
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/601731468151782558/The-foundations-of-numerical-and-mathematical-abilities-a-literature-review
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26821
id okr-10986-26821
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-268212021-04-23T14:04:36Z The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review Ansari, Daniel ACCOUNT ACCURACY ACHIEVEMENT ARITHMETIC ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS ATTENTION CHILDREN AT RISK CLASSROOM CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION CLASSROOMS COGNITION COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COMPETENCE COUNTING CURRICULUM DISTANCES EARLY EDUCATION EARLY INTERVENTION EARLY LEARNING EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS FIRST GRADE FORMAL EDUCATION FORMAL SCHOOLING GAUGING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES INFANCY INFANTS INTELLIGENCE INTERVENTIONS KINDERGARTEN KNOWLEDGE LEVELS LANGUAGE SKILLS LEARNING LEARNING DIFFICULTIES LEARNING PROCESS LITERACY MAGNITUDE MATURATION MEASUREMENT TOOLS MEASUREMENTS NUMERACY OLDER CHILDREN PLAYING PRECISION PRESCHOOL CHILDREN PRESCHOOLERS PRIMARY EDUCATION PSYCHOLOGY READERS READING REASONING RECALL RECOGNITION SKILL DEVELOPMENT SPEECH STANDARDIZATION TEACHERS TEACHING WIDTH WORKING MEMORY YOUNG CHILDREN YOUNGER CHILDREN The processing of numerical information is a dominant feature of everyday life. Whether it is in the context of financial transactions, such as shopping for groceries or in gauging how many people are in a room, we are constantly using numerical information to guide our behavior and make decisions. While there has been much more attention placed on literacy and its importance for life success, there is clear evidence to suggest that basic numerical and mathematical skills play a critical role in determining an individual's life success. Furthermore, there is abundant evidence that low numeracy skills are associated with substantial costs to society at large (Butterworth, Varma, and Laurillard; Bynner and Parsons, 1997; Duncan et al., 2007). In view of this, a better understanding of how the ability to process numerical information develops could lead to improvements in how these skills are taught and used by individuals to improve their lives across the globe. As an extension of this, improving numerical skills among individuals will have benefits for society at large as it will lead to a stronger working force and thus measurable economic improvements. The focus of the review will be on the foundations of number processing abilities upon which higher-level abilities, such as mental arithmetic are built. In this way, the literature review does not provide a comprehensive overview of the development of numerical and mathematical skills, but rather explore the foundational systems underlying numerical and mathematical abilities. By doing so the review aims to identify key variables that characterize foundational competencies of numerical abilities that can be used in the context of educational assessments and become targets for educational interventions. It is a central contention of the present review that in order to improve the early acquisition of numerical competencies, a focus on foundational systems is necessary. If the foundations are well set then the system can develop optimally. 2017-06-01T19:07:02Z 2017-06-01T19:07:02Z 2012-04-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/601731468151782558/The-foundations-of-numerical-and-mathematical-abilities-a-literature-review http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26821 English en_US GPE Working Paper Series on Learning;No. 4 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ACCOUNT
ACCURACY
ACHIEVEMENT
ARITHMETIC
ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS
ATTENTION
CHILDREN AT RISK
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
CLASSROOMS
COGNITION
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
COMPETENCE
COUNTING
CURRICULUM
DISTANCES
EARLY EDUCATION
EARLY INTERVENTION
EARLY LEARNING
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
FIRST GRADE
FORMAL EDUCATION
FORMAL SCHOOLING
GAUGING
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
INFANCY
INFANTS
INTELLIGENCE
INTERVENTIONS
KINDERGARTEN
KNOWLEDGE LEVELS
LANGUAGE SKILLS
LEARNING
LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
LEARNING PROCESS
LITERACY
MAGNITUDE
MATURATION
MEASUREMENT TOOLS
MEASUREMENTS
NUMERACY
OLDER CHILDREN
PLAYING
PRECISION
PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
PRESCHOOLERS
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PSYCHOLOGY
READERS
READING
REASONING
RECALL
RECOGNITION
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
SPEECH
STANDARDIZATION
TEACHERS
TEACHING
WIDTH
WORKING MEMORY
YOUNG CHILDREN
YOUNGER CHILDREN
spellingShingle ACCOUNT
ACCURACY
ACHIEVEMENT
ARITHMETIC
ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS
ATTENTION
CHILDREN AT RISK
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
CLASSROOMS
COGNITION
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
COMPETENCE
COUNTING
CURRICULUM
DISTANCES
EARLY EDUCATION
EARLY INTERVENTION
EARLY LEARNING
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
FIRST GRADE
FORMAL EDUCATION
FORMAL SCHOOLING
GAUGING
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
INFANCY
INFANTS
INTELLIGENCE
INTERVENTIONS
KINDERGARTEN
KNOWLEDGE LEVELS
LANGUAGE SKILLS
LEARNING
LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
LEARNING PROCESS
LITERACY
MAGNITUDE
MATURATION
MEASUREMENT TOOLS
MEASUREMENTS
NUMERACY
OLDER CHILDREN
PLAYING
PRECISION
PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
PRESCHOOLERS
PRIMARY EDUCATION
PSYCHOLOGY
READERS
READING
REASONING
RECALL
RECOGNITION
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
SPEECH
STANDARDIZATION
TEACHERS
TEACHING
WIDTH
WORKING MEMORY
YOUNG CHILDREN
YOUNGER CHILDREN
Ansari, Daniel
The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review
relation GPE Working Paper Series on Learning;No. 4
description The processing of numerical information is a dominant feature of everyday life. Whether it is in the context of financial transactions, such as shopping for groceries or in gauging how many people are in a room, we are constantly using numerical information to guide our behavior and make decisions. While there has been much more attention placed on literacy and its importance for life success, there is clear evidence to suggest that basic numerical and mathematical skills play a critical role in determining an individual's life success. Furthermore, there is abundant evidence that low numeracy skills are associated with substantial costs to society at large (Butterworth, Varma, and Laurillard; Bynner and Parsons, 1997; Duncan et al., 2007). In view of this, a better understanding of how the ability to process numerical information develops could lead to improvements in how these skills are taught and used by individuals to improve their lives across the globe. As an extension of this, improving numerical skills among individuals will have benefits for society at large as it will lead to a stronger working force and thus measurable economic improvements. The focus of the review will be on the foundations of number processing abilities upon which higher-level abilities, such as mental arithmetic are built. In this way, the literature review does not provide a comprehensive overview of the development of numerical and mathematical skills, but rather explore the foundational systems underlying numerical and mathematical abilities. By doing so the review aims to identify key variables that characterize foundational competencies of numerical abilities that can be used in the context of educational assessments and become targets for educational interventions. It is a central contention of the present review that in order to improve the early acquisition of numerical competencies, a focus on foundational systems is necessary. If the foundations are well set then the system can develop optimally.
format Working Paper
author Ansari, Daniel
author_facet Ansari, Daniel
author_sort Ansari, Daniel
title The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review
title_short The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review
title_full The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review
title_fullStr The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review
title_full_unstemmed The Foundations of Numerical and Mathematical Abilities : A Literature Review
title_sort foundations of numerical and mathematical abilities : a literature review
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/601731468151782558/The-foundations-of-numerical-and-mathematical-abilities-a-literature-review
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26821
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