scholarly journals Cognitive abilities and computational thinking at age 5: evidence for associations to sequencing and symbolic number comparison

2021 ◽  
pp. 100043
Author(s):  
Gerosa Anaclara ◽  
Koleszar Víctor ◽  
Tejera Gonzalo ◽  
Gómez-Sena Leonel ◽  
Carboni Alejandra
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
Symbolic Number

School-university cluster of disciplines developing the calculative-algorithmic component of computational thinking

2021 ◽  
pp. 42-49
Author(s):  
I. V. Bazhenova ◽  
М. М. Klunnikova ◽  
N. I. Pak
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cluster Model ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
University Education ◽  
Cognitive Techniques ◽  
Different Content ◽  
Algorithmic Component

Problem relevance. Due to the multi-departmental concepts and the different content of educational programs of schools and universities, a serious problem arises of the succession and continuity of the education system along the “vertical” in general and subject teaching in particular. Another didactic problem is the need to ensure interdisciplinary connections of basic courses in the traditional disciplinary model of the educational process for more effective and expedient formation of certain student’s competencies sets. In this regard, it is of interest to create new organizational and meaningful approaches to training specialists without a significant restructuring of the traditional educational process.The purpose of the article is to substantiate a collaborative model of subject training of students in a school-university cluster of disciplines, which ensures the succession and continuity of education at school and university.Methodological basis. On the example of three disciplines “Programming”, “Computanional Methods”, “Information Technologies in Education”, a cluster model of teaching schoolchildren and students in the direction of training “Mathematics and Computer Science” has been designed and implemented. A feature of the considered school-university cluster of disciplines is a unified methodological base of target, meaningful and didactic elements that form and develop the calculative-algorithmic component of the computational thinking of students. The basis of the means and methods of teaching in the cluster is made up of cognitive techniques and a platform of “computational and algorithmic primitives” — solving elementary task template. A recursive approach is used in the methods of cluster subject teaching of schoolchildren and students.Results and Conclusions. The model of the created disciplinary cluster “Programming — Computanional Methods — Information Technologies in Education” contributes to the formation and development of the calculative-algorithmic component of the computational thinking of schoolchildren and students, and also forms their assigned groups of competencies. The school-university cluster of disciplines ensures real succession and continuity of school and university education, without unnecessary, sometimes artificial, labor-intensive additional organizational and methodological means and techniques. The approach under consideration can be used to create clusters of disciplines in various educational areas, allowing their meaningful collaboration and forming given competencies sets and schoolchildren’s and student’s cognitive abilities. 

scholarly journals El Pensamiento computacional: ¿Una nueva forma de entrenar la memoria de trabajo?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (63) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Sanabria Zafra ◽  
Noelia Rodríguez Rodríguez ◽  
Andrés Eduardo Zerpa Pérez ◽  
Pedro Prieto Marañón ◽  
María Ángeles Alonso Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Level ◽  
The University

El pensamiento computacional es un concepto reciente que ha cobrado importancia en los últimos años. Se ha encontrado que entrenamientos basados en este concepto, son capaces de producir mejoras en diversas funciones cognitivas. En este trabajo se ha empleado un entrenamiento basado en el pensamiento computacional elaborado por el Aula Cultural de Pensamiento Computacional y la Fundación general de la Universidad de La Laguna. El entrenamiento se aplicó a alumnos de secundaria divididos en dos grupos: un grupo que se basaba en una metodología de aprendizaje guiada y otro basado en una metodología de aprendizaje por descubrimiento. El objetivo es comprobar si el entrenamiento es capaz de producir mejoras en las medidas de memoria de trabajo y si es más beneficioso para los participantes con un nivel de memoria de trabajo alto. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el entrenamiento, independientemente de la metodología que se aplique es capaz de producir mejoras en las diferentes medidas de memoria trabajo. Así mismo, no se encontró evidencia de que los participantes con un nivel de memoria de trabajo alto se beneficien más del entrenamiento en la mayoría de las pruebas, pero si se encontró un beneficio mayor de estos en la prueba de figuras abstractas. Computational thinking is a new concept wich has been adquiring relevance in the last few years. There are some evidence of trainings based on this new concept improving different cognitive abilities. In this paper, it has been used a training based on computational thinking, designed by “aula cultural de pensamiento computacional” and the general fundation of the University of La Laguna. This training was applied to students of secondary obligatory education who had been divided into two grups: one group recives the training with a methodology based in guide learning and the other group recived the training based on autolearning methodology. The main objective of this paper is to prove that training can improve the measures of working memory and check if the participants who have a high level of working memory take more benefits of the training. The results show that the training based on computational thinking improved the measures of working memory. In addition, there was no evidence of a higher level of benefit of the training in most of the taskes in the participants who have a high working memory level.

Neural Correlates of Symbolic Number Comparison in Developmental Dyscalculia

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 860-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Mussolin ◽  
Anne De Volder ◽  
Cécile Grandin ◽  
Xavier Schlögel ◽  
Marie-Cécile Nassogne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Number Processing ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Developmental Dyscalculia ◽  
Disability History ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Number Magnitude ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
The Right ◽  
Symbolic Number

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a deficit in number processing and arithmetic that affects 3–6% of schoolchildren. The goal of the present study was to analyze cerebral bases of DD related to symbolic number processing. Children with DD aged 9–11 years and matched children with no learning disability history were investigated using fMRI. The two groups of children were controlled for general cognitive factors, such as working memory, reading abilities, or IQ. Brain activations were measured during a number comparison task on pairs of Arabic numerals and a color comparison task on pairs of nonnumerical symbols. In each task, pairs of stimuli that were close or far on the relevant dimension were constituted. Brain activation in bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS) was modulated by numerical distance in controls but not in children with DD. Moreover, although the right IPS responded to numerical distance only, the left IPS was influenced by both numerical and color distances in control children. Our findings suggest that dyscalculia is associated with impairment in areas involved in number magnitude processing and, to a lesser extent, in areas dedicated to domain-general magnitude processing.

scholarly journals Symbolic number comparison is not processed by the analogue number system: different symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical distance and size effects

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Krajcsi ◽  
Gabor Lengyel ◽  
Petia Kojouharova
Keyword(s):  
Size Effects ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Number System ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
Symbolic Number

Dominant numerical cognition models suppose that both symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers are processed by the Analogue Number System (ANS) working according to Weber’s law. It was proposed that in a number comparison task the numerical distance and size effects reflect a ratio-based performance which is the sign of the ANS activation. However, increasing number of findings and alternative models propose that symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers might be processed by different representations. Importantly, alternative explanations may offer similar predictions to the ANS prediction, therefore, former evidence usually utilizing only the goodness of fit of the ANS prediction is not sufficient to support the ANS account. To test the ANS model more rigorously, a more extensive test is offered here. Several properties of the ANS predictions for the error rates, reaction times and diffusion model drift rates were systematically analyzed in both nonsymbolic dot comparison and symbolic Indo-Arabic comparison tasks. It was consistently found that while the ANS model’s prediction is relatively good for the nonsymbolic dot comparison, its prediction is poorer and systematically biased for the symbolic Indo-Arabic comparison. We conclude that only nonsymbolic comparison is supported by the ANS, and symbolic number comparisons are processed by other representation.

scholarly journals Children skilled in mental abacus show enhanced non-symbolic number sense

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cui Jiaxin ◽  
Xiao Rui ◽  
Ma Mei ◽  
Yuan Li ◽  
Roi Cohen Kadosh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Number Sense ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
General Intelligence ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Significant Group Difference ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
High Level ◽  
Symbolic Number

Mental abacus is the mental arithmetic with the help of an imagined abacus. Children skilled in mental abacus have been shown to exhibit advantages in arithmetic abilities. The current study investigated whether children with high-level mental abacus ability could outperform controls in non-symbolic number sense, which is considered to be much fundamental for arithmetic development. One hundred and fifty children (75 children skilled in mental abacus and 75 controls) took part in this study. Children skilled in mental abacus completed a mental abacus level test. Two groups of children performed serial cognitive tasks, including non-symbolic number comparison, arithmetic, language, spatial processing, visual perception, attention, processing speed, working memory, and general intelligence. Results show that children skilled in mental abacus had better non-symbolic number sense than the controls after controlling for general intelligence. The significant group difference of non-symbolic number sense retained after further controlling for age, gender, all types of cognitive processing available and even arithmetic performance. A mediation model showed that the non-symbolic number sense partially mediated the group difference on arithmetic development. The results suggest that children skilled in mental abacus have enhanced non-symbolic number sense. These findings raise the possibility that mental abacus training could have a causal effect on children’s non-symbolic numerical skills.

scholarly journals Altered Parietal Activation during Non-symbolic Number Comparison in Children with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keri J. Woods ◽  
Sandra W. Jacobson ◽  
Christopher D. Molteno ◽  
Joseph L. Jacobson ◽  
Ernesta M. Meintjes
Keyword(s):  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol ◽  
Symbolic Number

scholarly journals The Effect of Computer Software Interaction on Students Cognitive Abilities Enhancement: The Case of Engineering Educators’ Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (18) ◽  
pp. 228
Author(s):  
Charles A. N. Johnson ◽  
Mohd Fadzil Bin Daud ◽  
Mahyuddin Bin Arsat ◽  
Wan Nazdah Bt. Wan Hussin ◽  
Ernest Ituma Egba
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Special Knowledge ◽  
Exploratory Inquiry

In this digital age, the deployment of modern technology in the workplace to mitigate global challenges has become paramount. Therefore, the academic program, as accredited by the regulatory and accreditation bodies, is to ensure the production of quality industry-ready engineering graduates. These products are expected to be technology savvy and proficiently skilled in using computer software (CS) for productivity towards engineering activities. Unfortunately, there exists a gap in the quality of the graduates produced by tertiary engineering institutions in the developing world. This gap can be associated with the lack of computational thinking (CT) skills to meet the industry needs in this age of IR 4.0. Therefore, the paper reports the engineering educators’ perceived contributions and gains achieved while employing computer software in the course of instruction towards the cognitive ability enhancement of the engineering students. It provides an in-depth exploratory inquiry into the deployment of CT and its impacts in engineering education while focusing on its integration at what level in the course of study. The research follows a phenomenographic research approach explored the experiences of engineering educators from different engineering disciplines in the higher education institutions, namely chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering, to gain valuable insights. Data collected through a semi-structured, in-depth interview was coded using NVivo 12 CAQDAS and analysed for relevant themes. The findings indicate a significant potential benefit of enhanced cognitive abilities leading to the development of special knowledge, generic intellectual abilities, and personal attributes. In addition, the integration of CS should be the focus of instruction at the most appropriate level of study to allow for considerable exposure to CS to achieve the desired learning outcome. These findings have direct implications on the engineering educators and students, engineering faculties, and other stakeholders.

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