Many people have serious difficulties in understanding rational numbers, limiting their ability to interpret and make use of them in modern daily life. This also leads to later difficulties in learning more advanced mathematical content. In this study, novel tasks are used to measure 263 late primary school students' spontaneous focusing on…

The psychology supporting the use of quantifier words (e.g., "some," "most," "more") is of interest to both scientists studying quantity representation (e.g., number, area) and to scientists and linguists studying the syntax and semantics of these terms. Understanding quantifiers requires both a mastery of the…

For learning math, non-symbolic quantity skills, symbolic skills and the mapping between number symbols and non-symbolic quantities are all important precursors. Little is known, however, about the interrelated development of these skills. The current study focuses on numerical development by: (a) investigating the structure of non-symbolic,…

Young children must develop basic concepts of numeracy--one being that numbers have magnitudes that increase linearly--before they are able to succeed in mathematics. Children from low-income families have been found to be at a greater disadvantage in the development of numeracy, but this disadvantage can be overcome through the use of a simple…

In a recent study, Gevers and colleagues (2010, "Journal of Experimental Psychology: General," Vol. 139, pp. 180-190) showed that the SNARC (spatial numerical association of response codes) effect in adults results not only from spatial coding of magnitude (e.g., mental number line hypothesis) but also from verbal coding. Because children are…

Mathematical concepts and experiences are recalled and organized in a flow chart format. The power of unifying ideas in mathematics often causes this sequence to be forgotten or assigned less importance than it should be. (SD)

The processes and strategies used by Finnish second graders in solving verbal multiplication and division tasks were investigated, and the relationship of these processes and strategies to Piagetian abilities, memory capacity skills, and rational number concepts was charted. Three categories of strategies were classified: operations based on…

For mathematics teachers who are continually looking for ways in which to engage their students in the learning process, the capabilities offered by technology answer the call. Whether the technology comprises computer based applications or graphics calculators, often boring aspects can be bypassed so that students can work on the "good…

A central component in the young child's construction of a number system is an understanding of correspondence. Although current research demonstrates that preschool children use correspondence in a variety of tasks, the nature of the relationship between the use of correspondence action patterns and the use of correspondence as a quantifier is…

Examined the nature of numerical knowledge in 5-month-olds to inform the debate whether numerical abilities result from capacities dedicated to numerical cognition or to more general perceptual capacities. Found that 5-month-olds could determine the number of collective entities, moving groups of items, when non-numerical perceptual factors such…

Examined role of spontaneous gesture in 2- to 4-year-olds' counting and assessment of counting accuracy. Found that correspondence of children's speech and gesture varied systematically across age. Children adhered to one-to-one correspondence principle in gesture prior to speech. Counting accuracy related to correspondence of speech and gesture,…

Examined whether preschoolers could recognize numerical equivalence for comparisons involving sequentially presented sets. Found that children recognized numerical equivalence for static sets earlier than for sequential sets. Memory of the number of sequentially presented objects emerged earlier than memory for the number of sequential events.…

The author interprets several mathematical concepts as groupings using Piaget's definition. He also discusses (briefly) the implications for primary education. (SD)

The child's ability to identify numerousness as a property of a set, distinct from all the other properties of that set, may be a prerequisite to conservation of numerousness of sets. To test this theory, 11 lessons designed to develop the ability to identify properties of objects and of sets of objects and to represent length and numerousness…

This study sought to determine whether a number of specific counting and numeration behaviors emerge within children in a fixed developmental sequence; at what point in the development of mathematical behavior the use of numerical representations normally appears; and what relationship holds between development of counting skills and development…