ERIC Number: EJ1447566
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2363-8761
Available Date: N/A
A Brief, Multiple-Choice Assessment of Mature Number Sense Is Strongly Correlated with More Resource-Intensive Measures
Journal of Numerical Cognition, v10 Article e12679 2024
Students who exhibit mature number sense make sense of numbers and operations, use reasoning to notice patterns, and flexibly choose effective problem-solving strategies (McIntosh et al., 1997, https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/6819). Due to its dispositional nature, mature number sense is typically measured through in-depth interviews or tests of strategy usage. Yet, the lack of an efficient, rigorously developed measure has made it difficult to collect systematic, replicable evidence on students' mature number sense. To address this, we developed a brief assessment of mature number sense. The present study provides additional convergent evidence of validity for this measure with US students in grades 3-8 (8-14 years old). We compared middle school (N = 40) and upper elementary school (N = 41) scores from the brief assessment with an established, time-intensive measure (Yang, 2019, https://doi-org.bibliotheek.ehb.be/10.1007/ s10649-018-9874-8) and an in-depth interview of student strategy usage (Markovits & Sowder, 1994, https://doi-org.bibliotheek.ehb.be/10.2307/749290). We found strong correlations (r > 0.7) across all three measures, and this held even when controlling for students' arithmetic scores (pr > 0.6). Researchers and educators can now use the brief assessment to investigate students' mathematical thinking and advance knowledge of a key aspect of mathematical cognition.
Descriptors: Number Concepts, Thinking Skills, Mathematical Concepts, Multiple Choice Tests, Numbers, Problem Solving, Middle School Students, Elementary School Students, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, Student Attitudes, Cognitive Style, Numeracy, Mathematics Education
Leibniz Institute for Psychology. Universitatsring 15, Trier, 54296, Germany. e-mail: support@psychopen.eu; Web site: https://jnc.psychopen.eu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Elementary Education; Early Childhood Education; Grade 3; Primary Education; Grade 4; Intermediate Grades; Grade 5; Grade 6; Grade 7; Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 2100214
Author Affiliations: N/A