The mental representation of number in young children: Pictures, action, and language.
Item
-
Title
-
The mental representation of number in young children: Pictures, action, and language.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9218274
-
identifier
-
9218274
-
Creator
-
Stevens, Patricia Joy.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Katherine Nelson
-
Date
-
1992
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Developmental
-
Abstract
-
Fifty-four children in grades Kindergarten through two participated in a study of the mental representation of number. Each child did tasks which were designed to map on to Bruner's enactive, iconic, and symbolic representation, and was rated for each task on a three point scale according to the level of quantitative knowledge expressed.;The data showed that the highest level of quantitative knowledge was expressed in the enactive and in the symbolic (one of two verbal tasks) modalities. That is, when children constructed quantities with tens and unit blocks, or when they explained how they knew that one number was bigger than another, they received the highest ratings. Children showed lower levels of quantitative knowledge in pictorial tasks and in verbal contrasts of number pairs.;These results indicate that number knowledge develops unevenly between representational modalities, and suggests that translation of information from one modality to another may be useful in aiding the development of a representational system dealing with number.;In addition, children did better in one verbal task than another. A specific request to explain how the child knew that one number was bigger than another resulted in higher ratings than a more general request to tell how one number was different than another. This suggests that specific questions may act as attentional spotlights which help children link up and express quantitative information.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
