Xu, C. orcid.org/0000-0002-6702-3958, Li, H. orcid.org/0000-0002-5052-2742, Di Lonardo Burr, S. orcid.org/0000-0001-6338-9621 et al. (3 more authors) (2024) We cannot ignore the signs: the development of equivalence and arithmetic for students from grades 3 to 4. Journal of Cognition and Development, 25 (1). pp. 46-65. ISSN 1524-8372
Abstract
Students' understanding of the meaning of the equal sign develops slowly over the primary grades. In addition to updating their representations of equations to recognize that the equal sign represents an equivalence relation rather than signaling an operation, students need to move beyond full computation to efficiently solve equivalence problems. In this study, we examined the longitudinal relation between arithmetic and equivalence for students who were capable of accurately solving arithmetic problems in different formats. Chinese students (N = 612; M age = 9.0 years in Grade 3, 57% boys) completed measures of arithmetic fluency and equivalence fluency in Grade 3 and again in Grade 4. They also completed a non-verbal reasoning task in Grade 3. We tested a cross-lagged structural equation model to examine the reciprocal relations between arithmetic and equivalence fluency. We found reciprocal relations between the development of arithmetic and equivalence fluency from Grades 3 to 4, with a greater influence of arithmetic on the development of equivalence than the reverse. Furthermore, non-verbal reasoning predicted the development of equivalence, but not the development of arithmetic. Based on our findings, we conclude that for Chinese students with prior basic understanding of equivalence, flexible access to arithmetic facts supports their development of equivalence fluency.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Psychology; Cognitive and Computational Psychology; Applied and Developmental Psychology; Clinical Research; Pediatric |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Dec 2023 12:36 |
Last Modified: | 04 Oct 2024 15:04 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Informa UK Limited |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/15248372.2023.2245507 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:206202 |