Spontaneous focusing on numerosity: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Most previous research on early mathematical competencies has focused on studying, mainly, children's numerical abilities, leaving aside their voluntary disposition to focus on numerical aspects of their environment, known as spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON). In the present systematic literature review, current knowledge about SFON in preschool and kindergarten children was synthesized, with a view to providing an overview of the findings found so far on the topic. A systematic search of four databases yielded 31 articles that were eligible for inclusion. In these studies, SFON was defined as children's natural tendency to pay attention to numerical aspects of their environment, without being explicitly guided to do so. SFON was evaluated with behavioral and/or verbal tasks that allow assessing whether the child focuses (or not) on numerosity. It is also shown that SFON can be stimulated through playful and contextualized tasks and activities. Finally, SFON was positively correlated with early mathematical abilities concurrently and predictively, and vice versa, i.e., mathematics skills predicted SFON. The findings of the study are discussed, as well as their practical implications and suggestions for future research.

Keywords
Spontaneous focusing on numerosity; Numerical abilities; Early mathematics; Preschool and kindergarten children