Domain-general scientific reasoning abilities in kindergarten independently predict the mathematics ability of elementary school children.

IF 2.6 3区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

British Journal of Developmental Psychology Pub Date : 2025-08-20 DOI:10.1111/bjdp.70013

Christopher Osterhaus, Susanne Koerber

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Abstract

Whether scientific reasoning is a domain-general or domain-specific ability remains controversial. This longitudinal study followed 53 German aged 6-9 years (31 females, 22 males) from kindergarten into elementary school to investigate how kindergarten-age scientific reasoning, intelligence, and disciplinary knowledge influence their third-grade mathematics and German language abilities (based on teacher ratings). Scientific reasoning was assessed with comprehensive inventories (the Science-Kindergarten and the Science-Primary School Reasoning Inventories). Intelligence, language abilities (receptive language and text comprehension in kindergarten and elementary school, respectively), and kindergarten mathematics were assessed with standardized instruments. Kindergarten scientific reasoning predicted third-grade mathematics abilities independent of parental education levels, and also the intelligence and kindergarten mathematics ability of the children. The language ability of children was predicted solely by kindergarten language abilities. These findings support the view that scientific reasoning is a domain-general science skill, which is different from intelligence and relevant for mathematics learning among elementary school students.

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幼儿园一般科学推理能力能独立预测小学生的数学能力。

科学推理是一种领域通用能力还是领域特定能力仍然存在争议。这项纵向研究跟踪了53名6-9岁的德国人（31名女性，22名男性）从幼儿园到小学，以调查幼儿园年龄的科学推理、智力和学科知识如何影响他们三年级的数学和德语能力（基于教师评分）。采用综合量表（科学-幼儿园和科学-小学推理量表）评估科学推理。智力、语言能力（分别为幼儿园和小学的接受性语言和文本理解能力）和幼儿园数学用标准化的工具进行评估。幼儿园科学推理预测了独立于父母教育水平的三年级数学能力，也预测了儿童的智力和幼儿园数学能力。幼儿的语言能力仅能被幼儿园语言能力所预测。这些发现支持了科学推理是一种领域通用的科学技能的观点，它不同于智力，与小学生的数学学习有关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

British Journal of Developmental Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL-

CiteScore

4.50

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The British Journal of Developmental Psychology publishes full-length, empirical, conceptual, review and discussion papers, as well as brief reports, in all of the following areas: - motor, perceptual, cognitive, social and emotional development in infancy; - social, emotional and personality development in childhood, adolescence and adulthood; - cognitive and socio-cognitive development in childhood, adolescence and adulthood, including the development of language, mathematics, theory of mind, drawings, spatial cognition, biological and societal understanding; - atypical development, including developmental disorders, learning difficulties/disabilities and sensory impairments;