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Effectiveness of the Building Blocks program for enhancing Ecuadorian kindergartners’ numerical competencies

Abstract:

We investigated the effectiveness of the Building Blocks program for enhancing Ecuadorian kindergartners' early numerical abilities and spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), after controlling for working memory, intelligence, age, and SES. Following a pretest-intervention-posttest design, 18 classes comprising 355 children from varied SES backgrounds were randomly assigned to either an experimental (BB program) or a control (regular mathematics program) condition. Results showed that the children from the experimental group made more progress in their early numerical competencies than those from the control group. Furthermore, the BB program was associated with higher quality mathematics education. We discuss the theoretical and educational implications for early numeracy development in general, and for the Ecuadorian situation in particular.