On the Relation Between Seriation and Number Line Comprehension A Validation Study
Seriation refers to the process of ordering objects along single or multiple magnitude dimensions such as length, weight, and color. The ability to order objects in terms of some attribute is essential for the child's understanding of the properties of numbers. This study investigated the effect on seriation performance of increasing both the salient features of the relevant dimension of a seriation task and the number of objects in the series, as well as the predictive value of seriation tasks on number line comprehension. The subjects were 310 children from preschool, kindergarten, and grades 1 and 2. Sixteen seriation tasks were administered along with number line comprehension tasks. The results indicated that 10 to 37 percent of the preschoolers and young kindergarten students were able to construct a correct series of tasks with 6 objects in which the relevant feature was made more salient. A sharp decrease in the seriation performance was observed for these children when the number of objects in the same seriation tasks was increased from 6 to 10. The majority of the children solved the seriation tasks with 6 objects and salient dimensions perfectly. The increase in the number of objects from 6 to 10 produced a decrease in seriation performance varying between 4 and 25 percent. In primary grade 2, all the children were able to perform the different types of seriation tasks correctly. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that a selection of 6 seriation tasks (3 with 6 objects and 3 with 10 objects) predicted a multiple R .86 for performance on the number line comprehension tasks. Adding salient features to the seriation as well as varying the number of objects provided a set of tasks suitable for investigating the development of seriation in preschoolers and kindergarten students. (Contains 26 references. (KDFB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. mein! rout. Ances Office ;Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC/ (This document has been reproduced as received tram the person or organization Originating it. i 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. `4. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. On the Relation Between Seriation and Number Line Comprehension: A Validation Study Welko Tomic The Open University, Heerlen Johannes Kingma University Hospital Groningen The Netherlands PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Ctz.vc\tc TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Running Head: Seriation/Number Line Comprehension 1 2 BEST COPY AMIABLE Authors' Note This study was supported by grants from the Natural Science and Engineering Council (Grant No. A1235) The Netherlands Organisation for the Advancement of Scientific Research (Grant No. H56 314) and the Open University. Address correspondence and request for reprints to: Welko Tomic, The Open University, P.O. Box 2960, 6401 DL Heerlen, The Netherlands, e mail wto @ouh.nl