A systematic review of the contribution of spontaneous focusing on numerosity to enhance children's mathematical development

Authors

  • Norly Jamil Fakulti Pembangunan Manusia, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia
  • Munirah Ghazali Pusat Pengajian Ilmu Pendidikan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37134/jpak.vol10.1.2.2021

Keywords:

spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), early mathematics, skills, children, later achievement, contribution

Abstract

There is solid evidence that high score of spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) have substantial contribution on children’s mathematics development. Based on the literatures, around 2005 until 2010 most of the studies conducted about SFON in Finland. However a growing literature shows that the six years past the studies about SFON began to spread outside Finland, such as United State, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, China and Australia. This article aims at reviewing about implications of SFON within 12 years past with a twofold objective; (i) to describe how SFON related to children’s mathematics skills; and (ii) to explain that SFON predict later mathematics achievement. The studies were identified through systematic search of ielectronic databases and analyzed accordingly. SFON as well as other early maths skills in the earliest years play a role in children’s mathematics successes. Five database has been selected to conduct the search for target articles; (i) the Science Direct database offering access to social science, education and SFON journal articles; (ii) the Web of Science (WoS) service, indexing cross-disciplinary research in sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities; (iii) the Taylor and Francis Online with extraordinary information in SFON and numerosity; and (iv) the Springer LINK database covering education and language, mathematics and social science journals. Literature was collected from 46 articles of alleged journal from 2005 until 2019. Theme analysis was adopted to analysis the data. Based on 14 iarticles that has been reviewed, SFON skill greatly contribute to children mathematics skill and predict children later mathematics achievement. These results truly proving that SFON is a very important skill in early childhood math learning. In conclusion, SFON significantly effects and contribute to children learning in mathematics skill. In other words, children who want to be good in mathematics they should be expert in iSFON. Therefore, all the preschool teachers in this country should pay more attention on learning SFON during the early education of young children.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Batchelor, S. (2014). Dispositional factors affecting children's early numerical development (Doctoral dissertation, © Sophie Batchelor).

Batchelor, S., Inglis, M., & Gilmore, C. (2015). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity and the arithmetic advantage. Learning and Instruction, 40, 79-88.

Bojorque, G., Torbeyns, J., Hannula-Sormunen, M., Van Nijlen, D., & Verschaffel, L. (2016). Development of SFON in Ecuadorian Kindergartners. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 1-14.

De Smedt, B., Verschaffel, L., & Ghesquière, P. (2009). The predictive value of numerical magnitude comparison for individual differences in mathematics achievement. Journal of experimental child psychology, 103(4), 469-479.

Edens, K. M., & Potter, E. F. (2013). An exploratory look at the relationships among math skills, motivational factors and activity choice. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(3), 235-243.

Geary, D. C. (2011). Consequences, characteristics, and causes of mathematical learning disabilities and persistent low achievement in mathematics. Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics: JDBP, 32(3), 250.

Gray, S. A., & Reeve, R. A. (2016). Number-specific and general cognitive markers of preschoolers’ math ability profiles. Journal of experimental child psychology, 147, 1-21.

Hannula-Sormunen, M. M. (2015). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity and its relation to counting and arithmetic. In The Oxford Handbook of Numerical Cognition (p. 275). Oxford University Press, USA.

Hannula, M. M., & Lehtinen, E. (2005). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity and mathematical skills of young children. Learning and Instruction, 15(3), 237-256.

Hannula, M. M., Räsänen, P., & Lehtinen, E. (2007). Development of counting skills: Role of spontaneous focusing on numerosity and subitizing-based enumeration. Mathematical thinking and learning, 9(1), 51-57.

Hannula, M. M., Lepola, J., & Lehtinen, E. (2010). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity as a domain-specific predictor of arithmetical skills. Journal of experimental child psychology, 107(4), 394-406.)

Jordan, N. C., Kaplan, D., Ramineni, C., & Locuniak, M. N. (2009). Early math matters: kindergarten number competence and later mathematics outcomes. Developmental psychology, 45(3), 850.

Kucian, K., Kohn, J., Hannula-Sormunen, M. M., Richtmann, V., Grond, U., Käser, T., ... & von Aster, M. (2012). Kinder mit Dyskalkulie fokussieren spontan weniger auf Anzahligkeit. Lernen und Lernstörungen.

Mazzocco, M. M., Feigenson, L., & Halberda, J. (2011). Impaired acuity of the approximate number system underlies mathematical learning disability (dyscalculia). Child development, 82(4), 1224-1237.

McMullen, J., Hannula-Sormunen, M. M., & Lehtinen, E. (2015). Preschool spontaneous focusing on numerosity predicts rational number conceptual knowledge 6 years later. ZDM, 47(5), 813-824.

McMullen, J., Hannula-Sormunen, M. M., & Lehtinen, E. (2015). Preschool spontaneous focusing on numerosity predicts rational number conceptual knowledge 6 years later. ZDM, 47(5), 813-824.

Poltz, N., Wyschkon, A., Hannula-Sormunen, M. M., von Aster, M., & Esser, G. (2014, August). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity and the development of mathematical skills: Stability and prediction in kindergarten. Paper presented at Biennal EARLI SIG 5 Conference “Learning and Development in Early Childhood”, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Rathé, S., Torbeyns, J., Hannula-Sormunen, M. M., De Smedt, B., & Verschaffel, L. (2016). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity: a review of recent research. Mediterranean Journal for Research in Mathematics Education.

Sella, F., Berteletti, I., Lucangeli, D., & Zorzi, M. (2016). Spontaneous non‐verbal counting in toddlers. Developmental science, 19(2), 329-337.

Tian, J., & Siegler, R. (2015, March). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity in early math development: A cross-national study of American and Chinese preschoolers. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Trick, L. M., & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1994). Why are small and large numbers enumerated differently? A limited-capacity preattentive stage in vision. Psychological review, 101(1), 80.

Downloads

Published

2021-01-07

How to Cite

Jamil, N., & Ghazali, M. (2021). A systematic review of the contribution of spontaneous focusing on numerosity to enhance children’s mathematical development. Jurnal Pendidikan Awal Kanak-Kanak Kebangsaan, 10(1), 16–24. https://doi.org/10.37134/jpak.vol10.1.2.2021