Formal vs. informal mathematics
Assessing numeracy with school and market items in a large sample of school-aged children in North-West Nigeria
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21506702 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ann-Charline Weber (0000-0002-7250-5126, University of Göttingen), Lisa Bogler (0000-0002-5679-9777, University of Göttingen, corresponding author), Sebastian Vollmer (0000-0002-7863-0462, University of Göttingen) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 102 |
| Pages | 102564 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economics of Education Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0272-7757 • E-ISSN: 1873-7382 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102564 |
| OpenAlex | W4400960871 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
While school-aged children in resource-poor settings often perform poorly on standardized tests in mathematics, they can frequently be seen engaging in market activities, conducting monetary transactions. This suggests that children in these settings actually have much more advanced skills in basic mathematics than what is assessed at school. For this study, we designed a learning assessment that captures a broader skill set, including tasks presented as formal and informal mathematics. We provide evidence of a considerable skill gap between formal mathematics and informal mathematics in a large sample of school-aged children in North-West Nigeria. We explore several potential explanations for this skill gap. Market engagement is positively associated with the ability to solve the informal tasks but not formal tasks
Formal education · Mathematics education · Numeracy · Pedagogy · Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills · Computer Science · Innovations in Educational Methods · Psychology · School Choice and Performance
| Highly cited | No |
|---|