Browsing by Author "Verschaffel, Lieven"

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Development of SFON in Ecuadorian kindergartners
(2017) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Hannula, Minna; Van Nijlen, Daniel; Verschaffel, Lieven
This study explored the development of Ecuadorian Kindergartners’ spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) during the kindergarten year, as well as the contribution of early numerical abilities to this development. One hundred Kindergartners coming from ten classrooms received two SFON tasks, one at the beginning and one at the end of the school year, and an early numerical abilities achievement test at the beginning of the school year. Results first demonstrated limited SFON development during the kindergarten year, with inter-individual differences and intra-individual stability of children’s SFON tendency. Second, both children’s SFON tendency and their early numerical abilities at the start of the kindergarten year were predictively related to their SFON tendency at the end of the year. Our results do not only add to our theoretical understanding of SFON in young children, but also inform educational policy and practices in the domain of early mathematics education in Ecuador, as they provide building blocks for optimizing the educational goals and curricula for kindergarten mathematics.
Early number and arithmetic performance of Ecuadorian 4-5-year-olds
(2015) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Moscoso Reyes, Jheni Faviola; Van Nijlen, Daniel; Verschaffel, Lieven
This study aimed at (a) constructing a reliable and valid test to assess Ecuadorian 4–5-year olds’ number and arithmetic skills; (b) providing empirical data on Ecuadorian 4–5-year olds’ number and arithmetic skills; and (c) confronting these children’s actual performances with the performances expected by national experts in this domain. We administered the Test of Early Number and Arithmetic (TENA), developed on the basis of the Ecuadorian mathematics standards to 86 Preschoolers and 127 Kindergartners and asked 10 experts to evaluate TENA’s validity and predict children’s performances on it. Results supported the overall reliability and validity of the TENA. Furthermore, we observed differences in number and arithmetic competencies between and within Preschoolers and Kindergartners, but not between boys and girls. Finally, experts overestimated children’s performances on the test. The scientific and practical implications of these results are discussed.
Ecuadorian children’s repeating patterning abilities and its association with early mathematical abilities
(2021) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Gonzáles Prado, Neli Norma; Wijns, Nore; Verschaffel, Lieven; Torbeyns, Joke
Young children’s early repeating patterning abilities are important foundations for their later mathematical development. Prior studies on young children’s repeating patterning abilities have been conducted exclusively in developed countries differing in economic, societal, and educational characteristics from developing countries. In this study, we analyzed the performance and the errors of 4- to 5-year-olds on three repeating patterning tasks, and we investigated the association between children’s repeating patterning abilities and their early mathematical abilities in a developing country, Ecuador. A total of 60 preschoolers and 56 kindergartners completed a repeating patterning test and an early mathematics test at the end of the school year. Results first indicated rather low repeating patterning performances of both preschoolers and kindergartens, with large inter-individual differences in these performances. Kindergartners had significantly better patterning abilities than preschoolers. Second, error analyses indicated that children made different types of errors when solving the patterning tasks. The majority of errors were pattern-related errors, with preschoolers making more errors that were not pattern related than kindergarteners. Third, children’s patterning abilities were positively associated with early mathematical abilities in both grades. These results complement current theoretical models of young children’s mathematical development and inform educational policy and practices in this domain for developing countries.
Ecuadorian kindergartners’ numerical development: contribution of SES, quality of early mathematics education, and school type
(2018) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Van nijlen, Daniel; Verschaffel, Lieven
This study aimed at analyzing the development of Ecuadorian children’s early numerical abilities during the Kindergarten year in relation to their SES, the quality of their early mathematics education, and the attended school type. 179 Ecuadorian Kindergartners (18 classrooms, 6 classrooms per school type) were offered a standards-based early numeracy test at both the start and the end of the Kindergarten year. In all classrooms, the quality of early mathematics education was assessed twice via the COEMET instrument. Results first showed rather low scores on the early numeracy test, with only 50% (at the start) up to 70% (at the end) of the items solved correctly, along with large inter-individual differences in these scores. Second, the quality of early mathematics education in the participating classrooms was also rather low. Third, children’s early numerical abilities at Kindergarten entry, SES, and school type predicted children’s early numerical abilities at the end of the school year. The quality of early mathematics education did not contribute to children’s numerical development. We critically discuss our findings in view of optimizing the quality of Ecuadorian early mathematics education as a stepping stone towards enhanced numerical development.
Ecuadorian kindergartners' spontaneous focusing on numerosity development: contribution of numerical abilities and quality of mathematics education
(Springer, 2018) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Van nijlen, Daniel; Verschaffel, Lieven
Young children’s spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) predicts their later mathematical competencies. In this study we investigated the development of SFON in Ecuadorian kindergartners as well as the contribution of early numerical abilities and the quality of mathematics education to this development. The participants were 100 kindergartners coming from 10 classrooms. Children received two SFON tasks, one at the beginning and one at the end of the school year, and an early numerical abilities achievement test at the beginning of the school year. The quality of mathematics education was assessed twice via the COEMET instrument. Results demonstrated limited SFON development during the kindergarten year, with large individual differences in and highly consistent SFON performances. Additionally, children’s SFON development during the kindergarten year was predicted by their SFON tendency and early numerical abilities at the start of the year. The quality of mathematics education did not contribute to children’s SFON development. The scientific and practical implications of these results are discussed.
Effectiveness of the Building Blocks program for enhancing Ecuadorian kindergartners’ numerical competencies
(2018) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Van Hoof, Jo; Van nijlen, Daniel; Verschaffel, Lieven
We investigated the effectiveness of the Building Blocks program for enhancing Ecuadorian kindergart-ners’ early numerical abilities and spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), after controlling forworking memory, intelligence, age, and SES. Following a pretest-intervention-posttest design, 18 classescomprising 355 children from varied SES backgrounds were randomly assigned to either an experimental(BB program) or a control (regular mathematics program) condition. Results showed that the childrenfrom the experimental group made more progress in their early numerical competencies than thosefrom the control group. Furthermore, the BB program was associated with higher quality mathematicseducation. We discuss the theoretical and educational implications for early numeracy development ingeneral, and for the Ecuadorian situation in particular.
Enfoque espontáneo en estructuras matemáticas: patrones y clasificación
(2021) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Verschaffel, Lieven; Wijns, Nore; Gonzáles Prado, Neli Norma
Enfoque espontáneo en estructuras matemáticas: patrones y clasificación
(2021) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Verschaffel, Lieven; Wijns, Nore; Gonzáles Prado, Neli Norma
Influencia del nivel socioeconómico en el desarrollo de las competencias numéricas de los niños ecuatorianos de jardín infantil
(2019) Bojorque Iñegues, Gina Catalina; Torbeyns, Joke; Van Hoof, Jo; Van Nijlen, Daniel; Verschaffel, Lieven
The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the socioeconomic level of preschoolers on their development of early numerical skills and spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), after controlling for domain-general cognitive variables like intelligence and working memory and for age. On entering preschool, 355 boys and girls were given a battery of tests to evaluate their early numerical skills, SFON, intelligence, and working memory. The results indicate that there are individual differences in early numerical skills and SFON among Ecuadorian children entering preschool. Also, socioeconomic level was positively correlated with early numerical skills, but not with SFON. At the end, we discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the study.
Validating a home numeracy questionnaire in Ecuador using factor analysis
(2019) Van Nijlen, Daniel
The home numeracy questionnaire (HNQ) developed by LeFevre et al. (2009) is a self-report instrument to assess the home numeracy of young children. In this questionnaire, young children’s parents have to indicate how often their child participates both in direct (e.g., counting down: 10, 9, 8, …) and indirect numeracy activities (e.g., playing board games with die or spinner). Based on a principal component analysis, LeFevre and colleagues found a four factor structure of the HNQ. Using a sample of 176 Ecuadorian parents, we investigated the validity and reliability of the HNQ in a developing country. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that, with minor changes to the model, the same four factor model could be found as by LeFevre et al. (2009). This study not only confirmed the validity and reliability of the HNQ, but also showed its usefulness for investigating young children’s home numeracy beyond developed countries.