Affiliation:
1. University of Notre Dame Notre Dame Indiana USA
2. Department of Psychology University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA
3. Department of Human Development and Family Science Purdue University West Lafayette Indiana USA
4. Department of Psychology Florida State University Tallahassee Florida USA
Abstract
AbstractIn two studies, we investigated whether using three‐dimensional (3D) manipulatives during assessment aided performance on a variety of preschool mathematics tasks compared to pictorial representations. On measures of children's understanding of counting and cardinality (n = 103), there was no difference in performance between manipulatives and pictures, with Bayes factors suggesting moderate evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. On a measure of children's shape identification (n = 93), there was no difference in performance between objects and pictures, with Bayes factors suggesting moderate evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. These results suggest flexibility in the materials that can be used during assessment. Pictures, or 2D renderings of 3D objects, which can be easily printed and reproduced, may be sufficient for assessing counting and shape knowledge without the need for more cumbersome concrete manipulatives.
Funder
Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings
U.S. Department of Education
Subject
Developmental and Educational Psychology