Preschoolers' counting abilities improve maths. Along with reciting the days of the week and the alphabet, adults often practice reciting numbers with young children. Now, new research from the University of Missouri suggests reciting numbers is not enough to prepare children for success in maths in elementary school. The research indicates that counting, which requires assigning numerical values to objects in chronological order, is more important for helping preschoolers acquire maths 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," said Louis Manfra, an assistant professor in MU's Department of Human Development and Family Studies. "When children are just reciting, they're basically repeating what seems like a memorised 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."

Manfra analysed data from more than 3,000 children from low-income households in order to determine if the children's reciting and counting abilities in preschool affected their first-grade maths scores. He found that students who could recite and count to 20 in preschool had the highest maths scores in first grade; however, less than 10 percent of the children in the study could count and recite to 20.

"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."

-ScienceDaily