Preschoolers Inability to Estimate Quantity Relates to Later Math Difficulty

Aug. 14, 2013 — Preschool children  who
showed less ability to estimate the number of
objects in a group were 2.4 times more likely
to have a later mathematical learning disability
than other young people, according to a team
of University of Missouri psychologists.

Parents may be able to help their children
develop their skills at approximating group
sizes by emphasizing numerals while interacting
with young children.

"Lacking skill at estimating group size may
impede a child's ability to learn the concept of
how numerals symbolize quantities and how
those quantities relate to each other," said
study co-author David Geary, professor of
psychological sciences at MU. "Not
understanding the values numbers symbolize
then leads to difficulties in math and problems
in school, which our previous studies suggest
may be related to later difficulties with
employment."

Geary said that parents may be able to improve
a child's innate skill at approximating group
size and suggested that caregivers draw
children's attention to quantities in everyday
situations. For example, after a preschool-aged
child completes a series of tasks, a parent can
ask the youth how many tasks they completed.

"Talking to children about how the world can
be represented in numbers may help young
people develop the ability to estimate the size
of a group, which may prepare them for later
mathematics education" said co-author Kristy
vanMarle, assistant professor of psychological
science at MU. "Asking them 'how many'
whenever they encounter a group of objects or
images can help them understand that the
world can be understood in terms of
numbers."

However, the inability to approximate group
size was not the only factor related to later
math problems. The MU team also found that
preschoolers who lagged behind others in their
understanding of the symbolic value of
numerals and other related concepts were 3.6
to 4.5 times more likely to show mathematical
learning difficulties, which corroborates earlier
research by Geary, and extends it to a much
younger age.

Doctoral student Felicia W. Chu was the lead
author of the study, "Quantitative deficits of
preschool children at risk for mathematical
learning disability," which was published in the
journal Frontiers in Psychology.
"One major reason I came to the University of
Missouri was the psychology department's
strong reputation for studying children's
mathematical education," said Chu.
Geary is Curators' Professor and a Thomas
Jefferson Fellow in the Department of
Psychological Sciences in MU's College of Arts
and Science. vanMarle is the director of MU's
Developmental Cognition Lab.

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Journal Reference:

1. Felicia W. Chu, Kristy vanMarle, David C.
Geary. Quantitative Deficits of Preschool
Children at Risk for Mathematical Learning
Disability . Frontiers in Psychology, 2013; 4
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00195