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The paper aims to present the extent to which the application of the concrete mathematical and musical play contributes to the child's cognitive development. The research was conducted in two international schools in Belgrade, using the play titled 'Musical Monkeys'. The results of the research have shown that this kind of approach in working with children encourages attention and motivation, activity and engagement, while requiring and encouraging critical thinking in solving the set of mathematical or musical tasks and contributing to cooperation as well as finding a joint strategy in problem-solving. The obtained results confirm that the children established connection between the mathematical and musical segments, reaching a culmination in a moment of interest within the play, and rises inevitable question – how can mathematics and music be connected? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of assessment policy and practice in mathematics for early years classrooms in New Zealand between 1993 and the present day. It describes the introduction of school entry assessment for children starting school at age five. A numeracy initiative, the Numeracy Development Projects (NDP), for students in Years 1-10 was developed a decade ago out of a pilot project with Count Me In Too. Most recently, a consultation process was undertaken as part of introducing national standards in mathematics for students in Years 1-8. The paper also presents some data from assessments by teachers as part of the NDP initiative, showing the complex relationships between number knowledge and strategy for students in Years 1-4. The paper concludes by asking that individual diagnostic interviews to enable the provision of quality teaching continue to be supported as part of the introduction of national standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some findings from the project: A study of children in transition from pre to primary school: cognitive, language, and socio-emotional adjustments. The longitudinal study focuses on children's transition to primary one. It is noted that although attempts are made by selected pre-schools to ease the entry to primary school by preparing children and their parents to bridge the gap, many find the differences they encounter daunting. Expectations of primary schools are high, and parents are anxious about preparation. Furthermore, many studies have highlighted the strong support networks which Asian parents provide for their children and the implications for later learning in school, especially in mathematics. This paper will identify the nature of this support for numeracy development as far as a group of parents in Singapore is concerned. It will be evident that Singaporean parents invest much time and effort in preparing children for primary school. They see this as essential for accessing entry to a meritocratic education system geared towards raising global economic competitiveness through an ability-driven curriculum. They are resourceful and competitive in securing a sure start in pre-school, where parental involvement is not always encouraged (Sharpe, 1991). Hence, it is concluded that Singaporean parents' numeracy support strategies result in a special kind of agenda for their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has been conducted on children's self-talk and its use to regulate thinking and behaviour, but research has typically been conducted on audible self-talk when undertaking specific tasks designed by researchers and in laboratory situations. Addressing the need to study self-talk in the classroom and by students of an age when self-talk is largely internalised, this study investigated the association of self-talk with children's self-regulatory behaviour and academic performance. The findings reported in this paper are based on the data from self-report questionnaires on self-talk completed by eight-to-nine-year-olds, national mathematics achievement test results, and a teacher-completed behaviour rating scale. Based on the previous research, results were somewhat unexpected, including that self-talk may not have a very strong role in children's behavioural self-regulation and calling into question an effect of self-talk on children's learning in the classroom. Possible reasons are provided and the need for future research is acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An enduring challenge in visual-spatial research has been to identify the factors contributing to individual differences in ability. This research investigated the overall, verbal, and nonverbal visual-spatial ability of 61 (34 boys) three- to five-year-olds (Mage = 57.3 months; SD = 7.9) and the following factors known to be related to visual-spatial ability: grade, sex, socio-economic status, math and spatial activity engagement at home, parental mental rotation, quantitative reasoning, intelligence, and working memory. Results revealed quantitative reasoning and general intelligence were an important predictor of overall and nonverbal visual-spatial ability. Mathematics activities in the home predicted children's verbal visual-spatial ability but not after accounting for various cognitive factors. Given the highly malleable nature of visual-spatial ability, we anticipated a grade effect; however, this was not found. Older children did not outperform the younger children suggesting a possible 'kindergarten in-effect' whereby schooling did not result in visual-spatial learning over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While research consistently demonstrates that behavioral self-regulation (BSR) is associated with early academic abilities, it may not yet account for the multiple ways in which young children symbolically communicate their knowledge. This study builds on previous research in the areas of early learning and self-regulation by including children's drawings as a method of accessing and assessing young children's learning and by exploring this relation over a two-year kindergarten program. Measures of BSR and academic skills (math, reading, writing, and drawing) were administered at the end of a two-year kindergarten program (Mage = 70.25 month) to 109 children (49 girls, 60 boys). Results from four separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that BSR significantly predicted academic skills (math, reading, writing, and drawing) after controlling for age and maternal education. Practical implications of these findings highlight how self-regulated behaviour in kindergarten fosters a wide range of academic development including drawing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numeracy indicates number sense, measurement and geometry but is most often connected to number sense only. Since the domains of geometry and measurement are strongly connected to becoming skilful in science an intervention was carried out to improve children's science skills through measuring and geometry activities and enhance both their numeracy and science skills. Forty 6 year-old's from 10 Kindergartens and their teachers participated. Three conditions had specially developed activities to elicit practicing measuring and geometry skills for 10 min at a time in small groups during 12 weeks. Condition 1 also offered personal feedback to the teachers every two weeks; condition 2 included monthly professional meetings; condition 3 only had the special developed activities; condition 4 served as control condition. The results revealed significant improvements with regard to numeracy and science skills. Concerns regarding types of interventions to enhance teachers skills to guide small group work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely acknowledged that teaching and learning the language of mathematics is essential for the development of mathematical proficiency. Recent research highlights the need for explicit vocabulary instruction in mathematics. The Promoting Early Number Talk (PENT) project explored the effect of 'Number Talk' – a resource book to promote early number vocabulary – on teaching and learning in five Year 1 primary school classes in Northern Ireland. This article investigates the impact of the PENT project on classroom mathematics talk. Findings from group interviews with the five teachers demonstrate an increased awareness of the importance of mathematics vocabulary and indicate that changes in classroom practice had supported children's language and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of full- and half-day kindergarten programmes on English language learners (ELL) and English-only-speaking children's literacy and mathematics performance in a large urban school district. Considerations were given to how the length of the school day, children's language status (ELL and non-ELL), and children's attendance patterns influenced achievement. Results reveal that all children in full-day kindergarten settings performed significantly better on spring literacy assessments and mathematics when compared to children in half-day settings. Non-ELL children performed significantly higher on spring literacy assessments than ELL children. Children who missed fewer than 10 days of kindergarten had significantly higher spring literacy and mathematics scores than children with more than 10 absences. Findings from this study have significant policy and practice implications related to the overall quality, availability, and the effect of kindergarten programming in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parent guidance for numeracy activities and preschoolers' numeracy performance were examined in the context of playing a board game in three sessions over a two-week period. Twenty-eight parent–child dyads were randomly assigned to a numeracy awareness group in which parents were provided with suggested numeracy activities to incorporate into the games, or a comparison group provided with no numeracy instructions. Parents in the numeracy awareness group provided guidance for basic and more complex numeracy skills at approximately twice the rate of parents in the comparison group. Children exposed to more numeracy questions during the games generated more correct responses. These results support the view that activities occurring in children's daily lives can be used by parents to enhance children's exposure to numeracy-related content and enrich socio-cultural interactions related to numeracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the mental computation strategies used by pupils at the end of primary school. In 1998 a new strategy for teaching mathematics was introduced into British schools (the National Numeracy Strategy) that specifically focused on mental calculation. The first part of the study took place in 1999, one year after the implementation of the National Numeracy Strategy. These results were compared with those obtained in 2005, six years later. The study shows that the National Numeracy Strategy has improved pupils' performance both mentally and when given the option to use written working. But some discrepancies deserve further study; for example, the greater use of the 'rounding and adjusting; method for subtraction than for addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase preschoolers' science and mathematics learning experiences both within and outside the classroom, we developed age-appropriate materials containing general questions and instructions that teachers and parents could use when interacting with their students and children. The questions and instructions were related to a specific science or mathematics skill (e.g., classifying), but were general enough so that they could be applied to a variety of situations. Observations of three classrooms and interviews with the classroom teachers and aides, and the parents of the children in the classrooms suggested that use of these materials was beneficial to the children, teachers, and parents, and resulted in increasing the amount of science and mathematics activities and discussions in two of the classrooms as well as outside the classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research question asked was "Will those children ages three and four who have intensive play experiences in play-based preschools and who can perform at high levels of LEGO building as constructional play also show high levels of mathematical achievement later in formal school settings?". Thus, this study attempts to establish a correlation between the levels of LEGO play performance of young children and their later school (elementary, middle, and high school) achievement in mathematics. The predictor variables of levels of LEGO play, while controlling for IQ, and gender, were measured in Fall 1982 by testing a group of 3-year-old and 4-year-old preschoolers (n = 47), and later, longitudinal effects were examined after these same participants had completed high school (n = 37). The dependent or outcome variables obtained from the participants' school cumulative records included: (1) results from the California Achievement Test, (2) the grades in mathematics courses, and (3) higher mathematics courses taken in high school. LEGO performance during the preschool years and the later variables of students' letter grades, and mathematical achievement on standardized tests did not demonstrate significance at the third and fifth grade levels. At the same time no significance was found al seventh grade levels on teacher-awarded grades, but a clear significance was found for standardized testing at the seventh grade level. Also, since all other outcome variables at the middle school and high school levels such as number of mathematics classes taken, number of honors mathematics classes taken, average mathematics grades, and a combined weighted value of all mathematics courses taken were all significant, we may clearly state that there is a statistical relationship between early LEGO performance among preschool and achievement in mathematics, not seen during the elementary school years, but later developing at the middle and high school level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]