Chinese children excel on novel mathematics problems even before eleementary school

ABSTRACT—Kindergartners in China showed greater nu-merical knowledge than their age peers in the United States, not only when tested with arithmetic problems, which Chinese parents present to their children more often than U.S. parents do, but also when tested with number-line estimation problems, which were novel to the children in both countries. The Chinese kindergartners ’ number-line estimates were comparable to those of U.S. children 1 to 2 years more advanced in school. Individual differences in arithmetic and number-line-estimation performance were positively correlated within each country. These re-sults indicate that performance differences between Chi-nese and U.S. children on both practiced and unpracticed mathematical tasks are substantial even before the chil-dren begin elementary school. Children in China, Japan, and other East Asian countries out-perform their American age peers on numerous mathematical tasks, including those involving counting, arithmetic, algebra