title: Preschoolers doing arithmetic: the concepts are willing but the working memory is weak.
abstract: The study of early mathematical development provides important insights into young children's emerging academic competencies and, potentially, a basis for adapting instructional methods. We presented nonverbal forms of two- and three-term arithmetic problems to 4-year-olds to determine (a) the extent to which certain information-processing demands make some problems more difficult than others and (b) whether preschoolers use arithmetic concepts spontaneously when solving novel problems. Children's accuracy on simple arithmetic problems (a + b and a - b) was strongly related (r2 = .88) to representational set size, the maximum number of units that need to be held in working memory to solve a given problem. Some children also showed spontaneous use of procedures based on the arithmetic principle of inversion when solving problems of the form a + b - b. These results highlight the importance of identifying information-processing and conceptual characteristics in the early development of mathematical cognition.
authors.affiliation: University of Alberta.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bisanz
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*