A new study offers insights into the kinds of math skills children should learn early on to be best prepared for success in the subject as they advance into higher grades.
Key concepts for beginning 1st graders to learn include understanding numbers, the quantities those numbers represent, and low-level arithmetic, according to a press release describing the study by University of Missouri psychologist David Geary. Students who learn about those topics will have better success in learning math through the 5th grade, the study finds.
Mr. Geary and his research team arrived at their conclusions after tracking 177 elementary students from 12 schools from kindergarten through 5th grade.
The research is scheduled to be published in the journal Developmental Psychology.
