Spatial scaling, proportional thinking, and numerical understanding in 5- to 7-year-old children

Möhring, Wenke; Frick, Andrea; Newcombe, Nora S.

doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.12.001

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Journal article

Spatial scaling, proportional thinking, and numerical understanding in 5- to 7-year-old children

Möhring, Wenke University of Basel
Frick, Andrea University of Fribourg
Newcombe, Nora S. Temple University

22.12.2017

Published in:

Cognitive Development. - 2018, vol. 45, p. 57-67

English The present study investigated the role of spatial scaling and proportional-reasoning skills in children’s number-line estimations. Proportional strategies in number-line estimations might suggest that correlations between number-line knowledge and scaling are driven by proportional thinking. However, analyses of data on spatial scaling, proportional reasoning, counting skills, and number-line knowledge from 5- to 7-year-old children (N = 65) showed significant correlations between spatial-scaling performance and number-line knowledge, even after age, counting skills, common method variance, and proportional reasoning were accounted for. Thus, spatial scaling is related to variance in number-line estimations due to mechanisms beyond proportional reasoning. The ability to mentally transform magnitudes may be the additional common underlying process.

Faculty

Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines

Department

Département de Psychologie

Language