AUTHOR=Mera Carlos , Delgado Cándida , Aragón Estíbaliz , Menacho Inmaculada , Canto María Del Carmen , Navarro José I. 

TITLE=Contributions of the psychology of mathematical cognition in early childhood education using apps

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.913970

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.913970

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=This paper focuses on the development of mathematical competence at early ages with 4 digital learning APP-games designed to train the specific cognitive bases of mathematical learning. Comparison of symbolic and non-symbolic magnitudes was evaluated, as well as the number line estimation.
The challenge facing educational psychology is to promote these technologies in order to be used by the educational community. It is also convenient to develop attractive products for users, promoting an effective scientific transfer and increasing the research visibility. This study involved 193 pre-schoolers aged 57-79 months. A quasi-experimental design was carried out with 3 groups created after scores obtained in a standardised mathematical competence assessment test: Low-Performance Group (N=49), High-Performance Group (N=21) and Control Group (N=123).
The results show, on the one hand, that training with the 4 digital learning APP-games focusing on magnitude, subitizing, numbers facts and estimation tasks improved the numerical skills for the experimental groups, compared to the control group. On the other hand, the study provided verified technological tools for teaching early mathematical competence.