Abstract
This research examined the structure underlying preschoolers’ knowledge of counting. Factor analysis indicated that three first-order factors and one higher order factor accounted for 57% of the variance in performance on a variety of counting tasks. The results are consistent with a model of early number competence that has three basic components: (1) a verbal component involving knowledge of the conventional number-word sequence, (2) an action component involving knowledge of tagging behaviors in object-counting procedures, and (3) a contextual component involving knowledge of the basic goals and uses of counting.
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This research was supported by PHS Grants HD-05951 and HD-15808 awarded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Thanks are extended to the directors, teachers, children, and parents associated with Champaign-Urbana Day Care Center, Children’s Center Day Care, Early Learning Center, First United Methodist Child Care Center, Gerber Children’s Center, the ICBD Children’s Learning Center, Kinder-Care Learning Center, Montessori School of Champaign-Urbana, The Next Generation, and the University of Illinois Child Development Laboratory, and to all those associated with the Bement Grade School, in particular to Superintendent Dan Mash, Joyce Kaufman, and Barbara Waters. For assistance with data collection and analysis, we extend additional thanks to Becky Davison and Linda Purcell. The studies reported represent a portion of Roberta Ferrara’s doctoral research conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is indebted to Ann Brown, her academic advisor and the director of her thesis research, as well as to the rest of her committee members: Renée Baillargeon, Joseph Campione, Robert Davis, Lawrence Jones, and Robert Reeve.
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Ferrara, R.A., Turner, T. The structure of early counting competence. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 31, 257–260 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334922
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334922