Children's arithmetic skills do not transfer between applied and academic mathematics.

ABSTRACT: Many children from low-income backgrounds worldwide fail to master school mathematics¹; however, some children extensively use mental arithmetic outside school^2,3. Here we surveyed children in Kolkata and Delhi, India, who work in markets (n = 1,436), to investigate whether maths skills acquired in real-world settings transfer to the classroom and vice versa. Nearly all these children used complex arithmetic calculations effectively at work. They were also proficient in solving hypothetical market maths problems and verbal maths problems that were anchored to concrete contexts. However, they were unable to solve arithmetic problems of equal or lesser complexity when presented in the abstract format typically used in school. The children's performance in market maths p

SUBMITTER: Banerjee AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11922737 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature