Time Reading in Middle and Secondary School Students: The Influence of Basic-Numerical Abilities

Abstract

Time reading skills are central for the management of personal and professional life. However, little is known about the differential influence of basic numerical abilities on analog and digital time reading in general and in middle and secondary school students in particular. The present study investigated the influence of basic numerical skills separately for analog and digital time reading in N = 709 students from 5 th to 8 th grade. The present findings suggest that the development of time reading skills is not completed by the end of primary school. Results indicated that aspects of magnitude manipulation and arithmetic fact knowledge predicted analog time reading significantly over and above the influence of age. Furthermore, resultsshowed that spatial representations of number magnitude, magnitude manipulation, arithmetic fact knowledge, and conceptual knowledge were significant predictors of digital time reading beyond general cognitive ability and sex. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to show differential effects of basic numerical abilities on analog and digital time reading skills in middle and secondary school students. As time readings skills are crucial for everyday life, these results are highly relevant to better understand basic numerical processes underlying time reading.

Enhancing Time Reading and Recording Skills in First-Grade Children with Learning Difficulties Using the “Clock Motor Game”

“…Another possible reason for this improvement is the spatial representation of time, which is partially mediated by the motor system and grounded in spatially directed movement [48], such as reading or writing. Spatial ability is highly correlated with the visualization factor as it relies on executive functioning and visuospatial storage [28]. These confirmations align with the characteristics of the CMG, which enable it to act on visuospatial storage and mediate the notion of RRT in children with mathematical learning difficulties.…”

“…Especially in Grades 1 and 2, when children are taught the landmarks on an analog clock (hour, half hour, and quarter past/to), the correlation with mathematics achievement appears to be rather weak. Nevertheless, the results of this study suggest that difficulties with the acquisition of basic clock-reading skills may be predictive of mathematics difficulties [28]. When working with children with MLDs, it can be beneficial to incorporate interventions that explicitly address spatial skills.…”

Speedometer‐reading performance of senior drivers with cognitive impairment: a comparison of analogue and digital speedometers

“…Interestingly, this finding is consistent with the observation in time-reading. Lambert et al 35 proved that general cognitive ability was a predictor of the digital time-reading. In contrast, none of the variables studied in this study could independently predict the speedometer-reading performance on the analogue speedometer, which may have a more complicated theoretical frame.…”

“…Interestingly, this finding is consistent with the observation in time‐reading. Lambert et al 35 . proved that general cognitive ability was a predictor of the digital time‐reading.…”

The relevance of basic numerical skills for fraction processing: Evidence from cross-sectional data

“…Please note that secondary school in Germany starts as early as 5 th grade and can go up to 12 th or 13 th grade covering an age range from about 11 to 18 years on average. To test our hypotheses we used a statistical approach similar to [ 35 , 36 ].…”