Dept of Mathematics Education seminar: 19 November 2025

Presentations by Moritz Herzog (University of Cologne, Germany) and Iro Xenidou-Dervou (Loughborough University)

MS Teams link:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YWQ3Y2E5NTYtNmMxNS00Mjg0LTg0M2YtZTFjYmRjZDU4ZGMz%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cf264fc0-aeb8-449f-9054-82ce4454084b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%228872a26c-52a5-47d9-9adb-83b0d06e71c9%22%7d

[14:00-15:00] (40 mins Presentation + 20 mins Q&A): Iro Xenidou-Dervou

Loughborough University

I.Xenidou-Dervou@lboro.ac.uk

Early financial literacy and its relationship with early numeracy

Abstract

Financial literacy influences individuals’ financial decision-making, overall well-being and broader societal outcomes. Yet, global levels remain low. In the UK, 44% of adults have poor financial literacy and 45% lack confidence in managing their finances. Research suggests that the age at which individuals start talking about money and finance is a strong indicator of their future financial well-being (OECD, 2017). In collaboration with the Money and Pensions Service, our team developed a measure for assessing young children’s (aged 4 to 6 years of age) emergent understanding of money and finance, Arlo’s Adventures, which uses an innovative comic-strip-based interview format. 

In this talk, I will introduce Arlo’s Adventures and present findings from our latest study, in which we administered this new financial literacy measure to a large sample of children across the UK. I will discuss the measure’s underlying factor structure and our findings regarding the relationship between young children’s financial literacy skills and their early numeracy skills.

[16:00-17:00]  (40 mins Presentation + 20 mins Q&A): Moritz Herzog

University of Cologne, Germany

[moritz.herzog@uni-koeln.de]

Development of place value understanding

Abstract

Developing a solid understanding of place value is one of the most important mathematical concepts to be learned in primary school. At the same time, various studies have shown that many children have great difficulty acquiring a understanding of the place value system. Development-oriented models that structure the acquisition of place value understanding represent a promising approach to addressing individual learning difficulties. The presentation will introduce a developmental model of place value understanding, including empirical validation data (cross-sectional and longitudinal). Applications of this model for research and practice will be discussed based on recent studies.