Faculty Sponsor: Hilary Barth
Deborah Campos
Deborah is a Neuroscience & Behavior and Psychology double major from Waterbury, CT. On campus, she works as a CA for the Portuguese department, is a research assistant in the Wesleyan Cognitive Development Lab, and volunteers at local elementary schools through the Wesleyan Science Outreach program. In her spare time she enjoys playing piano, hanging out with friends, and trying new foods!
Abstract: Numerical estimation tasks, such as number line estimation, provide insight into how individuals conceptualize numerical magnitude and have been linked to mathematical achievement. This study examined whether children (ages 9–12) and adults use different strategies when completing number line tasks in computer- and paper-based formats. We compared three proportion-judgment models—the one-cycle, two-cycle, and mixed models—to characterize estimation patterns at both individual and group levels. Analyses tested whether a single model could account for performance across groups and formats or whether strategy differences would emerge. Our findings suggested that task format influences cognitive strategies and that children and adults differ in their reliance on reference points during estimation. These results highlight that estimation strategies are context-dependent and vary by age, with implications for the design of educational assessments and interventions targeting numerical reasoning.
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