TOMSK, Jan 29 – RIA Tomsk. Scientists of Tomsk State University (TSU) took part in the international study and identified a
direct relationship between the child’s potential in mathematics and his
ability to operate with numbers on the mental number line, the press
service of the university reported on Tuesday.
It is noted that
the study was conducted by scientists of TSU and universities of the UK,
USA and Canada. It was attended by more than three thousand twins aged
from 8 to 16 years from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, as well as 1456
pupils from Russia aged from 8 to 18 who were not twins. The children
performed the "number line" test – they were asked to place numbers from
0 to 1000 on the mental line.
"The test <...> measures the
ability to evaluate numerical values on the so-called mental number
line. This ability is developed with varying degrees of accuracy in
different people. The study showed that these individual differences are
related to differences in mathematical skills in such a way that
successes in mathematics are partially related with the ability to
operate numbers on the mental number line", – is said in the statement.
© РИА Томск. Павел Стефанский
It
is added that the scientists also concluded that if the environment
does not give the child opportunities for development, then his genetic
inclinations towards mathematics are harder to to be shown, and in such
conditions the results of children with high and low potential may not
differ.
"On the contrary, if the environment is more unified, for
example, everyone has access to high-quality educational resources, then
differences in achievements are more explained by differences in the
makings, including genetic ones", – the head of the research, research
supervisor of the Strategic academic unit "Institute of the Human of the
Digital Era", professor of the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths,
University of London, Yulia Kovas.
It is added that the article on
the results of the study was published in the British Journal of
Educational Psychology. The received results are now being discussed in
the context of the development of the educational environment, and
scientists continue to work, studying the activities of the twin brains
during the execution of mathematical operations.