Numeracy Screener: Comparing Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Numerical Magnitude Processing in 4–6-year-old Canadian and Singaporean Children

Background – Students in East Asian countries consistently outperform their Western counterparts on mathematics assessments, with Singaporean students topping all global math competency assessments in 2015. Previous studies suggest that this learning gap between East Asian and Western countries emerges even before students begin formal schooling. Aim - The present study used existing data to test whether Singaporean children display an early advantage in basic numerical knowledge relative to their Canadian peers. Methods - 4 to 6-year-old Singaporean (n = 214) and Canadian (n = 370) children’s symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude processing skills were evaluated using the Numeracy Screener. Participants were presented with pairs of stimuli and asked to identify which of two numbers or symbols (dot arrays) were larger in magnitude. Results - Canadian children outperformed Singaporean children on both the symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude comparison tasks, suggesting that Singaporean children do not begin with an early advantage in basic math skills. After controlling for age, a subset analysis of 5-year-old participants reduced the main effects of format and country on performance scores. Implications & Future Direction - These findings provide novel evidence of a learning gap between younger children that favours a Western country (Canada), suggesting that the learning gap is not unidirectional. This finding conflicts with previous research, highlighting the need for further investigation into the factors underlying the mathematics achievement gap between East Asian and Western countries.