Children’s arithmetic skills do not transfer between applied and academic mathematics

Abhijit V. Banerjee; Swati Bhattacharjee; Raghabendra Chattopadhyay; Esther Duflo; Alejandro J. Ganimian; Kailash Rajah; Elizabeth S. Spelke

doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08502-w

Published paper

Children's arithmetic skills do not transfer between applied and academic mathematics

Alejandro J. Ganimian

with A. V. Banerjee, S. Bhattacharjee, R. Chattopadhyay, E. Duflo, K. Rajah & E. S. Spelke

Nature, 2025

Math education Foundational skills Assessments India

Published version

Overview

Working children in India demonstrated sophisticated market calculations but struggled with equivalent abstract school-format problems, revealing a significant transfer gap.

Cite this study

Banerjee, Abhijit V.; Bhattacharjee, Swati; Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra; Duflo, Esther; Ganimian, Alejandro J.; Rajah, Kailash; Spelke, Elizabeth S.. (2025). Children’s arithmetic skills do not transfer between applied and academic mathematics. Nature, 639 (8055), 673-681. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08502-w

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