Date of Completion

Summer 8-31-2020

Thesis Advisor(s)

Marie Coppola

Honors Major

Mathematics/Statistics

Disciplines

Developmental Psychology | Statistical Methodology

Abstract

Is there a relationship between vocabulary and children’s understanding of cardinality? Does the way in which we classify cardinality data as tested by the Give-a-Number task affect finding such a relationship? This thesis explored these questions using a methodological approach, by testing the relationship between children’s receptive vocabulary scores and Give-a-Number scores classified in two different ways, the traditional knower-level assessment, as well as by calculating the proportion of trials answered correctly. A significant correlation was found between participants’ receptive vocabulary scores and Give-a-Number scores using both manners of classification, independent of the children’s ages. The results were compared with those of past studies to examine what discrepancies exist regarding the relationship, and what factors may be contributing to the discrepancies. Though it was not reflected in our dataset, after comparing the results of several studies, we determined that the manner of classification (i.e., knower-level vs. proportion-correct), as well as age, may have an effect on the existence and strength of the relationship between children’s vocabulary and understanding of cardinality.

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