A Study of the Performance of 5th Graders in Numbe

Authors: DerChing Yang Maoneng Li ChihI Lin

Publish Date: 2007/08/22

Volume: 6, Issue: 4, Pages: 789-807

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Abstract

In order to investigate the performance of number sense and its relationships with mathematics achievement of Taiwanese students who had just completed the 5thgrade mathematics curriculum a computerized number sense scale has been developed This number sense scale includes four factors which are recognizing relative number size using multiple representations of numbers and operations judging the reasonableness of estimates of computed results and recognizing the relative effect of operations on numbers A total of 1212 students in Taiwan participated in this study The main findings of this study are summarized as follows First the students perform best on “recognizing relative number size” and perform worst on “judging the reasonableness of estimates of computed results” This finding is consistent with previous studies It shows that students in Taiwan seem quite poor on judging the reasonableness of estimates of computed results Second female students on average have higher scores on recognizing the relative number size than male students even though only a small effect size is found And third the achievements of the students in mathematics are significantly correlated with their number sense as measured by the average grade for the academic year of 5thgrade students

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