Consequences of Individual Differences in Children's Formal Understanding of Mathematical Equivalence.

Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0372725 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1467-8624 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00093920 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Child Dev Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishers
Original Publication: [Chicago, etc.] : Published by the University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development [etc.]

Academic Success* ; Individuality* ; Mathematical Concepts* ; Mathematics* ; Social Class*; Child Development/*physiology ; Comprehension/*physiology ; Intelligence/*physiology; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Midwestern United States

Experts claim that individual differences in children's formal understanding of mathematical equivalence have consequences for mathematics achievement; however, evidence is lacking. A prospective, longitudinal study was conducted with a diverse sample of 112 children from a midsized city in the Midwestern United States (M age [second grade] = 8:1). As hypothesized, understanding of mathematical equivalence in second grade predicted mathematics achievement in third grade, even after controlling for second-grade mathematics achievement, IQ, gender, and socioeconomic status. Most children exhibited poor understanding of mathematical equivalence, but results provide clues about which children are on the path to constructing an understanding and which may need extra support to overcome their misconceptions. Findings suggest that mathematical equivalence may deserve more attention from educators.
(© 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.)

Date Created: 20170914 Date Completed: 20200323 Latest Revision: 20200323

20221213

10.1111/cdev.12948

28902386