COUNTING

RESEARCH FINDING:

A  good  way to teach children simple arithmetic is to  build  on 
their informal knowledge.  This is why learning to count everyday 
objects is an effective basis for early arithmetic lessons.

COMMENT:

Young children are comfortable with numbers; "math anxiety" comes 
in  later years.   Just watching the enjoyment children get  from 
songs  and nursery rhymes that involve counting is ample evidence 
of their natural ease.   These early counting activities can  set 
the stage for later, more formal exposure to arithmetic.

But  counting  is not limited to merely reciting strings of  num-
bers.   It also includes matching numbers to objects and reaching 
totals (for example, counting the number of apples sitting on the 
table).   Children  learn  to do arithmetic  by  first  mastering 
different  counting  strategies,  beginning  with  rote  counting 
(1,2,3,4), and progressing to memorized computations (2x2=4).  As 
children  learn the facts of arithmetic,  they also learn to com-
bine  those  facts by using more  sophisticated  strategies.   As 
their skills grow, they rely less and less on counting.

When teachers begin by using children's informal knowledge,  then 
proceed to more complex operations,  children learn more  readily 
and enjoy it.



Carpenter,  T.  P., and Moser, J. M. (1983).  "The Acquisition of 
Addition  and Subtraction Concepts."  In R.  Lesh and  M.  Landau 
(Eds.),  Acquisition of Mathematical Concepts and Processes.  New 
York:  Academic Press. 

Fuson,  K.  C.,  Richards,  J.,  and Briars,  D. J. (1982).  "The 
Acquisition  and Elaboration of the Number Word Sequence."  In C. 
J. Brainerd (Ed.), Children's Logical and Mathematical Cognition.  
New York:  Springer-Verlag.

Gelman, R., and Gallistel, C. R. (1978).  The Child's Understand-
ing of Numbers. Cambridge:  Harvard University Press.

Ginsburg,  H.  P.  (1977).   Children's Arithmetic:  The Learning 
Process.  New York:  D. Van Nostrand Company.

Resnick,  L. B. (l983).  "A Developmental Theory of Number Under-
standing."  In H.  P. Ginsburg (Ed.), The Development of Mathema-
tical Thinking, (pp. l09-l5l).  New York:  Academic Press.