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Previous research has shown the importance of conducting early interventions in mathematics in disadvantaged children. Solving arithmetical word problems is a field in which children particularly fail. In this study, preschoolers from disadvantaged French public schools ( n  = 101; M age  = 5–6) were taught strategies for using fingers to solve arithmetic word problems and compared with a control group. The intervention consisted of collective rituals based on learning finger patterns and 7 sessions spread over 4 weeks, for about 20 min, focusing on explaining how to use the fingers to solve problems. The results showed that the intervention has a significant post-test impact on the targeted transformation problem-solving skill and that children with lower performances in problem-solving at the pre-test benefited more from the intervention. The intervention also indirectly benefited the other problem-solving skills. However, there was no intervention effect on the arithmetic addition task. Our research highlights that an intervention focused on the explicit teaching of finger strategies for problem-solving can be successfully implemented into ecological learning contexts, especially in disadvantaged areas.

Pure copying skill (copying of unfamiliar scripts) and delayed copying (copying of unfamiliar Chinese characters presented previously) can both be important correlates in learning to write Chinese. The present study tested both traditional literacy-related skills and copying skills among 267 Chinese kindergarteners (mean age = 5.52) to examine the relations between these skills and Chinese beginning word dictation, or spelling, both concurrently and one year later. A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both pure and delayed copying skills contributed a relatively large amount of unique variance to Chinese spelling both concurrently and subsequently. Mediation analyses showed that with the auto-regressor effect included, delayed copying had both significant direct and indirect effects on Time 2 spelling performance, while morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, and pure copying contributed to subsequent Chinese spelling mainly through their influence on Time 1 spelling performance. This study highlights the importance of copying for Chinese dictation/spelling acquisition.

Geometric knowledge is one of the important mathematical skills acquired by children at a young age and is a major area of future mathematical learning; however, there is no direct research on the factors influencing kindergarteners’ early geometric knowledge. The pathways model to mathematics was modified to examine the cognitive mechanisms underlying geometric knowledge in Chinese kindergarten children aged 5–7 ( n  = 99). Quantitative knowledge, visual-spatial processing, and linguistic abilities were stepped into hierarchical multiple regression models. The results revealed that after age, sex, and nonverbal intelligence were statistically controlled, visual perception, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming in linguistic abilities significantly predicted the variation in geometric knowledge. For quantitative knowledge, neither dot comparison nor number comparison test could be a significant precursor of geometry skills. The findings indicate that visual perception and linguistic abilities, not quantitative knowledge, account for the geometric knowledge of kindergarten children.

Metacognition plays an important role in young children’s learning and daily life activities. Based on Anji Play, we designed a metacognition enhancement program named Circling Curriculum for Metacognition Training (CCMT). With a quasi-experimental design, we examined the effects of the CCMT program on the metacognition of 5–6 year old Chinese children. Two classes of 5–6 year old children were randomly assigned into an experimental group (n = 25, 10 girls, mean age = 65.92 months, SD = 3.58) and a control group (n = 22, 10 girls, mean age = 66.77, SD = 3.87). The experimental group received the three-month CCMT, while the control group received routine teaching activities without imposing any interventions. All children took the metacognition test before and after the intervention. Results indicated that (1) there was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in all dimensions of metacognitive ability in the pre-test; (2) the experimental group exhibited better metacognitive ability than the control group in most dimensions of metacognitive ability in the post-test; and (3) the gain scores in the metacognitive ability of experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group. The results are very encouraging and suggest that CCMT can foster the development of the metacognitive ability of young children.

Numerous studies have examined the positive and negative effects of various types of interactions that occur while children view electronic book (e-book) stories. However, the effects of the different types of interactions have not been compared, and more importantly, the optimal amount and reoccurrence of these interactions on children has not been explored. The present study was designed to fill this gap by examining the effect of amount, type and reoccurrence of e-book interactions on kindergarteners’ new word learning and story comprehension. To do so, 72 children aged 5–6 year-old viewed three picture e-book stories in one session read by digital narrators, and then repeated this procedure in a second session. Each story included a word clarification or a story elaboration type of interaction, which occurred at low (every two screens), medium (every screen), or high frequency (more than once on most screens) during viewing. Following each story, participants were asked to define target words and answer comprehension questions. Results showed that increasing the amount of interactions, whether word clarifications or elaborations, enhanced word learning and story comprehension following the second exposure to the e-book stories. These findings suggest that interruptions during e-book viewing to explain difficult words or expand the plot by inferential information, do not interfere with the narrative course and do not impair learning processes, at least not in the amounts of interactions examined in this study. These conclusions bear practical implications for the design of e-books, and more generally, for the interactive approach adults may adopt when reading a story to children.

Education researchers and practitioners have been exploring for years the key factors impacting children’s academic engagement. Still, relatively little is known about the role of children’s social cognition in their academic engagement. Accordingly, the current study focuses on the potential indirect associations between young children’s social information processing patterns (SIP) and their academic engagement through their social behaviors in class, specifically their prosocial and problem behaviors, and following by the quality of their relationship with their main kindergarten teacher. The study examines these indirect effects in one dual-pathway model which includes both a pathway from children’s competent SIP patterns to higher levels of academic engagement and from children’s aggressive SIP patterns to lower levels of academic engagement. The sample included 300 kindergarten children (151 girls; M age = 68.76 months). Results showed that competent SIP patterns were positively linked to children’s academic engagement, which encompasses both their academic self-perceptions and their attitudes toward learning, via children’s prosocial behaviors in class and subsequently teacher–child relational closeness. In addition, aggressive SIP patterns were negatively linked to the kindergarteners’ attitudes toward learning via the children’s problem behaviors in class and subsequently teacher–child relational conflict. Results have implications for both research and practice in the understanding of the influence of social cognition, behavior, and social relationships on academic engagement for young learners.

The present study traced the emergence of the neural circuits for reading in five-year-old children of diverse pre-literacy ability. In the fall and winter of kindergarten, children performed a one-back task with letter versus false font stimuli during fMRI scanning. At the start of kindergarten, children with on-track pre-literacy skills (OT) recruited bilateral temporo-parietal regions for the letter > false font comparison. In contrast, children at-risk for reading difficulty (AR) showed no differential activation in this region. Following 3months of kindergarten and, for AR children, supplemental reading instruction, OT children showed left-lateralized activation in the temporo-parietal region, whereas AR children showed bilateral activation and recruitment of frontal regions including the anterior cingulate cortex. These data suggest that typical reading development is associated with initial recruitment and subsequent disengagement of right hemisphere homologous regions while atypical reading development may be associated with compensatory recruitment of frontal regions. ► The temporo-parietal region is recruited during letter processing in 5-year olds. ► The recruitment is bilateral at an early stage of pre-literacy development. ► The recruitment becomes left lateralized with gain in pre-literacy skills. ► The pattern of recruitment depends on the levels of pre-literacy skills. ► Right hemisphere engagement and disengagement may be typical of reading development.

Although most studies in the field of literacy development suggest that writing and reading are two sides of the same coin, very little is known about writing in kindergarten in comparison to the vast number of studies on reading. In this study, we explored the connections between writing and reading using correlation and regression analyses conducted on data collected from 60 normally developing Arabic-Speaking kindergartners. Kindergartners’ writing (handwriting and spelling), reading (reading accuracy and reading fluency), and orthographic and fine motor skills were measured. A large correlation was found between writing and reading measures. Separate stepwise regression analyses for writing and reading revealed that the alphabet and orthographic choice tasks were salient predictors of both skills and explained 46% and 57% of the variance in writing and reading, respectively. Surprisingly, the analysis indicated that fine motor skills did not contribute directly to writing or reading. These findings, discussed in relation to previous findings in the literature, confirm the connection between writing and reading and emphasize the role of orthographic knowledge in early writing and reading abilities, among Arabic-speaking kindergarten children.

This study investigated the associations between working memory and simple addition in young children. Thirty-one kindergarteners and 24 first graders participated in this study. Children’s working memory was measured using the Automated Working Memory Assessment, while addition were assessed using the Addition Test derived by the investigators based on the syllabus for early arithmetic and teacher interviews. Children’s attention was also measured in order to control for its effect on the associations. Results show that visuospatial working memory was significantly associated with the performance on double-digit addition with carrying in a small group of kindergarteners. However, this association became non-significant after controlling for attention. In Grade 1 children, significant association between visuospatial working memory and double-digit addition without carrying was found. This finding is consistent with previous studies that visuospatial working memory is the best and unique predictor for non-verbal materials. The results of this study suggest that a better understanding of the role of working memory in the development of arithmetic skills is required for early childhood education.

An ongoing debate on the association between phonological processing and number knowledge concerns the extent to which they influence each other during early childhood. The current study aims to establish the direction of the developmental relationship between these two kinds of abilities at an early age. Eighty-two Chinese kindergarten children were followed from 5 to 6 years old with a one-year interval. We investigated three phonological processing skills (phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming) and two kinds of basic number knowledge (number identification and number comparison) at time 1 and time 2. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that the association between phonological awareness and number comparison was bidirectional. Specifically, early phonological awareness at time 1 could predict later number identification, and early number comparison at time 1 was a significant predictor of later phonological memory. In contrast, rapid automatized naming had no such predictive relations with other variables. The present findings are among the first to provide evidence that basic number knowledge could predict later phonological processing in kindergarten children.