According to a new study, if a child is taught to could numbers accurately early in life, it could help him or her acquire better math skills later in life.
Researchers from the University of Missouri found when a child is taught the art of count and memorize numbers or "assigning numerical values to objects in chronological order", it helps the child acquire better math skills.
"Reciting means saying the numbers from memory in chronological order, whereas counting involves understanding that each item in the set is counted once and that the last number stated is the amount for the entire set," Louis Manfra, an assistant professor in MU's Department of Human Development and Family Studies, said in a news release.
"When children are just reciting, they're basically repeating what seems like a memorized sentence. When they're counting, they're performing a more cognitive activity in which they're associating a one-to-one correspondence with the object and the number to represent a quantity."
The data of 3,000 children from low-income families were studied during the course of this study in order to find a connection between reciting and counting ability of a child in pre-school and math scores in first grades It was discovered that children who knew how to recite and count up to 20 scoring high marks in first grade.
"Counting gives children stronger foundations when they start school," Manfra said. "The skills children have when they start kindergarten affect their trajectories through early elementary school; therefore, it's important that children start with as many skills as possible."
"These low-income children aren't learning math skills anywhere because parents think the children are learning them at school, and teachers think they're learning them at home," Manfra said. "This is a problem because it gives parents and teachers the idea that it's not their responsibility to educate the children, when it's everyone's responsibility. This is problematic because, when the children enter kindergarten and are at lower math levels, they don't have the foundational skills needed to set them on paths for future success."
