Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills

Performance on number line tasks, typically used as a measure of numerical representations, are reliably related to children’s mathematical achievement. However, recent debate has questioned what precisely performance on the number line estimation task measures. Specifically, there has been a sugges...

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Main Authors: Simms, Victoria, Clayton, Sarah, Cragg, Lucy, Gilmore, Camilla, Johnson, Samantha
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32139/
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author Simms, Victoria
Clayton, Sarah
Cragg, Lucy
Gilmore, Camilla
Johnson, Samantha
author_facet Simms, Victoria
Clayton, Sarah
Cragg, Lucy
Gilmore, Camilla
Johnson, Samantha
author_sort Simms, Victoria
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Performance on number line tasks, typically used as a measure of numerical representations, are reliably related to children’s mathematical achievement. However, recent debate has questioned what precisely performance on the number line estimation task measures. Specifically, there has been a suggestion that this task may measure not only numerical representations but also proportional judgment skills; if this is the case, then individual differences in visuospatial skills, not just the precision of numerical representations, may explain the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement. The current study investigated the relationships among visuospatial skills, visuomotor integration, number line estimation, and mathematical achievement. In total, 77 children were assessed using a number line estimation task, a standardized measure of mathematical achievement, and tests of visuospatial skills and visuomotor integration. The majority of measures were significantly correlated. In addition, the relationship between one metric from the number line estimation task (R2LIN) and mathematical achievement was fully explained by visuomotor integration and visuospatial skill competency. These results have important implications for understanding what the number line task measures as well as the choice of number line metric for research purposes.
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spelling nottingham-321392020-05-04T17:44:11Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32139/ Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills Simms, Victoria Clayton, Sarah Cragg, Lucy Gilmore, Camilla Johnson, Samantha Performance on number line tasks, typically used as a measure of numerical representations, are reliably related to children’s mathematical achievement. However, recent debate has questioned what precisely performance on the number line estimation task measures. Specifically, there has been a suggestion that this task may measure not only numerical representations but also proportional judgment skills; if this is the case, then individual differences in visuospatial skills, not just the precision of numerical representations, may explain the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement. The current study investigated the relationships among visuospatial skills, visuomotor integration, number line estimation, and mathematical achievement. In total, 77 children were assessed using a number line estimation task, a standardized measure of mathematical achievement, and tests of visuospatial skills and visuomotor integration. The majority of measures were significantly correlated. In addition, the relationship between one metric from the number line estimation task (R2LIN) and mathematical achievement was fully explained by visuomotor integration and visuospatial skill competency. These results have important implications for understanding what the number line task measures as well as the choice of number line metric for research purposes. Elsevier 2016-05-01 Article PeerReviewed Simms, Victoria, Clayton, Sarah, Cragg, Lucy, Gilmore, Camilla and Johnson, Samantha (2016) Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 145 . pp. 22-33. ISSN 1096-0457 Number line estimation; General cognitive skills; Visuospatial skills; Visuomotor integration; Mathematical achievement; Numerical representations http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096515003057 doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2015.12.004 doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2015.12.004
spellingShingle Number line estimation; General cognitive skills; Visuospatial skills; Visuomotor integration; Mathematical achievement; Numerical representations
Simms, Victoria
Clayton, Sarah
Cragg, Lucy
Gilmore, Camilla
Johnson, Samantha
Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills
title Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills
title_full Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills
title_fullStr Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills
title_full_unstemmed Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills
title_short Explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills
title_sort explaining the relationship between number line estimation and mathematical achievement: the role of visuomotor integration and visuospatial skills
topic Number line estimation; General cognitive skills; Visuospatial skills; Visuomotor integration; Mathematical achievement; Numerical representations
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32139/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32139/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32139/