Enhancing Early Number Learning: Effects of an 8- Week Abacus Training Intervention on Subitising, Counting, and Motivation
“Subitizing and counting are children’s main strategies for quantification” (Sarama & Clements, 2009, p. 79). The development of subitising and counting skills and their relationship have attracted considerable attention from researchers from both cognitive psychology and mathematics education. However, current literature highlights that more studies are needed to understand the relationship between affective and cognitive aspects of learning mathematics (Steffe, 2017). Despite efforts by early years mathematics educators and policymakers to prioritise counting and number learning, many children continue to struggle to meet expected standards in this area globally (e.g., Department for Education, 2017; Steffe, 2017). This study addressed the current research gap by exploring how structure interventions, such as abacus training might support the development of both subitising and counting, as well as the affective aspects of early number learning among young learners. It also responded to the practical gap between early mathematical education objectives and the persistent challenges faced by many young children, with the aim to inform both teaching practice and curriculum development. This mixed-method study examined the effects of an 8-week abacus training intervention on reception-year-aged students’ subitising and counting skills in England. It explored both the cognitive and affective aspects of number learning in the early years, considering the relationship between children’s early number skills and their motivational profiles. Using a quasi-experimental research design, the study consisted of three phases: pre- tests, intervention in the form of teaching experiment sessions, and post-tests for both the experimental and control groups. The total sample consisted of 49 participants. Participants aged from 56 months to 68 months (M = 62.12 months, SD = 12.61), 47% of the students were female (N = 23), and 53% of the students were male (N = 26). The experimental group (24 students; mean age = 62, SD = 15.083, female = 10, male = 14) consisted of students who scored lower on initial assessments conducted by their schoolteacher, and the control group (25 students; mean age = 62.25, SD = 10.54, female = 13, male = 12) consisted of students with relatively higher initial scores. I taught the experimental group while the usual classroom lead teacher taught the control group. Pre- and post-intervention tests measured subitising skills through the Research-Based Early 2 Maths Learning Trajectories (REMA-LT), Subitising Subscales (Clements et al., 2008) and Dot-Enumeration (DE) Tasks, as well as counting skills through the REMA-LT Counting Scale (Clements et al., 2008). Additionally, a teacher-rated questionnaire—the Child Behaviour and Motivation Rating Scale (CBeMo; Lepola et al., 2007)—was used to evaluate children's motivational profiles. The results suggested that, while subitising and counting (measured through Counting Item Theory-Threshold (IRT-T) (r = 0.369, p < 0.05) and Counting Score (r = 0.342, p < 0.05) showed a positive correlation prior to the intervention, the relationship became more complex after the intervention, with both positive and negative correlation emerging across contexts. These findings implied that abacus training might have introduced a different dimension to number learning that influenced the already complex relationship between subitising and counting. It was also found that in the abacus-bead arrangement of DE tasks, the subitising range was larger, the RT slope of the subitising range was much less steep, and no discernible point of discontinuity between subitising and counting was found. Together, these results suggest that abacus training may support a new developmental and learning trajectory of subitising and counting that differs from other typical manipulatives and number representation systems often used in Western countries. The above findings were also consistent with results from the analysis of the teaching experiment sessions, which illustrated how abacus training might support growth in number understanding by fostering the adoption of more sophisticated subitising and counting strategies. The sessions showed that the physical action of pushing earth beads, along with the spacing between them in different abacus number representations appeared to support students’ perceptual subitising through both motor movement and visuospatial processing on the abacus. The results further indicated that multiple ways of composite unit development exist while subitising abacus numbers, and that developing more orders of actions or encouraging students to shift from one type of order of actions to another may afford more opportunities for students to develop conceptual subitising and composite units. Moreover, the combination of perceptual unit and conceptual unit to construct number on an abacus may promote students’ reliance on using not only perceptual items but endowing perceptual items with a conceptual value when subitising, leading to the improved capability to subitise larger numerosities. 3 Furthermore, the results highlighted potential motivational benefits, particularly in reducing task avoidance, associated with this interactive, multimodal learning tool. They also suggested the complex role of social dependence within the motivational profile in relation to children’s early number learning. It was also found that Task Orientation (TO) and Task Avoidance (TA) had a complete mediating effect (TO with a 95% CI = (- 0.0003,0.0001), TA with a 95% CI = (-0.0017, -0.0001)) on the impact of Subitising skills on Counting skills, both of which were statistically significant. In contrast, Social Dependence did not have a mediating effect in the relationship between Subitising skills and Counting skills. These results could raise awareness for early mathematics educators when encountering “unfavourable” passive help-seeking behaviours. When children imitate peers’ behaviours, or immediately ask for help, these actions may represent an important and unavoidable early stage of learning through social interaction. Rather than dismissing these behaviours and presuming them to be merely passive or task-avoidant, early mathematics educators could approach them as a developmental phase or teaching opportunity. These behaviours can be recognised as signals from the students indicating a need for guidance, which can be used to facilitate social learning and engagement. By addressing these behaviours more proactively and turning initial help-seeking or imitative behaviour into opportunities for developing task-oriented skills and autonomy, educators can help shift children’s passive social dependence motivation orientation towards orienting tasks more independently. This is the first quasi-experimental intervention study on subitising and counting skills that also examines students’ affective construct of motivation during number learning tasks. By integrating the cognitive and affective domains, this research provides a more comprehensive understanding of how foundational number skills, such as subitising and counting, interact with motivational factors, and their overall effect in shaping students’ learning outcomes. This research also contributes to understanding the development of early number learning and offers insights into the role of manipulative-based instruction in fostering children’s foundational mathematical skills and motivational profiles.
Subitising, counting, motivation, early number learning
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