The importance of number sense to mathematics achievement in first and third grades
Open accessAbstract
Children's symbolic number sense was examined at the beginning of first grade with a short screen of competencies related to counting, number knowledge, and arithmetic operations. Conventional mathematics achievement was then assessed at the end of both first and third grades. Controlling for age and cognitive abilities (i.e., language, spatial, and memory), number sense made a unique and meaningful contribution to the variance in mathematics achievement at both first and third grades. Furthermore, the strength of the predictions did not weaken over time. Number sense was most strongly related to the ability to solve applied mathematics problems presented in various contexts. The number sense screen taps important intermediate skills that should be considered in the development of early mathematics assessments and interventions.
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This result goes in line with research findings that suggest a positive connection between a strong number sense and getting benefit from mathematics teaching in the elementary grades [27,28].
“This result goes in line with research findings that suggest a positive connection between a strong number sense and getting benefit from mathematics teaching in the elementary grades [27,28].”
From Third Grade Students’ Use of Relational Thinking (2021) · cites this paper as [28]
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“This result goes in line with research findings that suggest a positive connection between a strong number sense and getting benefit from mathematics teaching in the elementary grades [27,28].”
Result
- Authors
- Jordan, N. C., Glutting, J., & Ramineni, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Delaware (US)
- Corresponding author
- Jordan, Nancy C.
- ORCID
- Jordan, Nancy C.
- Venue
- Learning and Individual Differences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-04
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 82-88
- ISSN
- 1041-6080 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2855153
- OpenAlex
- W2028485665
- Cited by
- 471
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 12.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Learning and Individual Differences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD036672)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Applied Mathematics › Mathematics Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Education › Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques
- Keywords
- number sense, mathematics achievement, early childhood mathematics, first grade, third grade, counting, number knowledge, arithmetic operations, cognitive ability
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