Estimation in the numerical line and written and mental calculation in pupils of 4th and 5th of primary education

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Published: Jan 30, 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2014.n1.v7.815

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Mª Milagrosa Domínguez Suraña
Universidad de Cádiz
Manuel Aguilar Villagrán
Universidad de Cádiz

Abstract

Currently, the nature and development of the mental number line of children is the subject of a broad line of research. In a task on the number line, children are asked to point to a number presented on a physical number line with fixed ends. In general, it is observed that the estimates of inexperienced children and young people respond more to a logarithmic function, while the older and more experienced children reflect a linear function better. The studies on numerical line estimation and performance prediction in mathematics find strong correlation between the scores of precision in the estimation and the performance in standardized tests of mathematics (Siegler and Opfer, 2003; Siegler and Booth; 2004; Booth and Siegler, 2008; Reinert et al., 2014). Theoretical analyzes of the development of linear numerical representations suggest that board games with linear numerical lines improve the numerical knowledge of young children (Ramani and Siegler, 2008). In our context, estimation studies have been carried out in the numerical line and calculation fluency (Araujo et al., 2012) in children of the first year of Primary Education and here we approach these relationships with students of the second and third cycle of Primary Education. We have evaluated in a sample of 165 children of 4th and 5th year of Primary Education the relationship between estimation in the number line (22 numerical items in a line between 0 and 1000) and written and mental calculation (20 operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division that can be solved by applying the traditional calculation algorithm or mental calculation strategies). The results show the appearance of a clear linear function of the estimation in the numerical line and a negative and significant correlation between the errors of estimation and the written calculation and especially mental calculation, corroborating the findings of similar studies. The discussion focuses on the importance of constructing a number line to represent numbers, which could have a crucial role for mathematical development not only at early ages but also at older ages.

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How to Cite
Domínguez Suraña, M. M., & Aguilar Villagrán, M. (2014). Estimation in the numerical line and written and mental calculation in pupils of 4th and 5th of primary education. International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology. Revista INFAD De Psicología., 7(1), 453–462. https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2014.n1.v7.815
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Vol. 7 No. 1 (2014): LIVING TOGETHER AND CONDUCT
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Articles
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