Validation and Reliability of an Early Number Knowledge Scale in Italian Preschool Children

In this webinar, Dr Francesco Sella (Loughborough University) will talk about the development and validation of an early numeracy scale designed to assess key numerical skills in preschool children. The scale includes eight tasks: Dots Comparison, Highest Count, Give a Number, Set Transformation, Number Naming, Number Comparison, Number Sequence, and Arithmetic. A sample of 675 preschool children from four regions in Italy (north, centre, south) participated in the study. The scale showed good test–retest reliability, both overall and at the level of individual subtests. The average scores also aligned with teachers’ evaluations of children’s numerical skills, supporting its ecological validity. Preliminary factor analysis suggests the presence of three underlying components: one related to non-symbolic numerical processing, one to symbolic numerical processing, and a separate factor for arithmetic. These findings support the scale as a reliable and valid tool for assessing early number knowledge in preschool-aged children, with potential applications in research and educational contexts. This session will be led by Dr Francesco Sella (Loughborough University).

This talk is part of a webinar series from the Centre for Educational Neuroscience at UCL, Birkbeck University and the UCL IoE. You can register here to receive weekly updates about the seminar series.