Development of SFON in Ecuadorian Kindergartners

Van Nijlen Daniël

Hannula-Sormunen Minna

Verschaffel Lieven

Bojorque Gina

Torbeyns Joke

Lataukset:

Springer Netherlands

This study explored the development of Ecuadorian Kindergartners’ spontaneous

focusing on numerosity (SFON) during the kindergarten year, as well as the

contribution of early numerical abilities to this development. One hundred

Kindergartners coming from ten classrooms received two SFON tasks, one at the

beginning and one at the end of the school year, and an early numerical abilities

achievement test at the beginning of the school year. Results first demonstrated

limited SFON development during the kindergarten year, with inter-individual differences

and intra-individual stability of children’s SFON tendency. Second, both children’s

SFON tendency and their early numerical abilities at the start of the

kindergarten year were predictively related to their SFON tendency at the end of

the year. Our results do not only add to our theoretical understanding of SFON in

young children, but also inform educational policy and practices in the domain of

early mathematics education in Ecuador, as they provide building blocks for optimizing

the educational goals and curricula for kindergarten mathematics.