Young Children's Understanding of Addition Concepts

Abstract

Children's knowledge of concrete versions of additive composition, commutativity and associativity was investigated in two studies. In Study 1, 24 four- to five-year-olds and 25 five- to six-year-olds judged the equivalence of conceptually related addition problems presented using groups of objects. In Study 2, 45 five- to six-year-olds judged related problems and solved addition problems. Both studies indicated that concrete versions of principles were salient to most children although associativity was more difficult than commutativity and there were considerable individual differences in children's understanding. Study 1 results indicated that schoolchildren were more accurate at recognising additive composition than preschoolers and Study 2 results suggested that commutativity knowledge was related to using advanced counting strategies for solving addition problems. Overall, the research supports the claim that examining early knowledge of addition principles provides important insights into children's emerging part-whole knowledge and mathematical development.