Numerical competencies of young children

Numerous studies show that wide ranges of competencies in different fields are necessary to develop a good numerical competency. Our research tried to find an answer to the question, which out of various factors mainly influence the numerical competencies of young children. We focused on visuospatial, perceptive and tactile skills as determinants of the quality of early numerical representations. We adopted a longitudinal research design with three periods of data collection (two data collections during the second year of kindergarten and one at the end of first grade). Our test setting for the kindergarten included tests in the three areas mentioned above. The evaluation of these results shows that the numerical competencies are influenced by visuospatial competencies and knowledge of pre-numerical facts. An importance of the perceptive and tactile skills could not be established. At the end of first grade, after formal mathematical instruction, we made a mathematical competency test. A structural equation model of the subtests shows that the numerical knowledge at this stage can be divided in two separate factors: 1. A representational numerical factor (analogical representation of quantities: Triple Code model of Dehaene) 2. A more formal knowledge of mathematics (visual Arabic representation: Triple Code model of Dehaene, 1992). Predicting these two factors from the competency profile measured in kindergarten showed that the representational numerical factor was very well predicted from a general spatio-numerical factor found in the previous year, while the formal knowledge was predicted to a lesser degree by tactile skills measured at the end of kindergarten. Implications for numerical teaching in Kindergarten will be discussed.