The development of place value concepts: Approximation before principles |
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| Authors: | Kelly S Mix Corinne A Bower Gregory R Hancock Lei Yuan Linda B Smith |
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| Institution: | 1. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA;2. University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA;3. Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA |
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| Abstract: | Place value concepts were measured longitudinally from kindergarten (2017) to first grade (2018) in a diverse sample (n = 279; Mage = 5.76 years, SD = 0.55; 135 females; 41% Black, 38% White, 8% Asian, 12% Latino). Children completed three syntactic tasks that required an explicit understanding of base-10 symbols and three approximate tasks that could be completed without this explicit understanding. Approximate performance was significantly better in both age groups. A factor analysis confirmed that syntactic and approximate tasks tapped separate latent variables in kindergarten, but not in first grade. Path analyses indicated that only kindergarten approximate performance predicted overall first-grade place value understanding. These findings suggest that explicit understanding of base-10 principles develops from implicit, partial knowledge of multidigit numbers. |
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