Learning in core and non-core number domains

Abstract

Much early knowledge acquisition is domain-specific. Different knowledge structures are defined by different sets of principles. These serve to identify those data that belong to a given structure and exclude those that are irrelevant. Domain-specific structures direct attention to those aspects of experience that can be assimilated to the structure and thereby grow it. Core domains are defined by a priori skeletal structures.Learning in non-core domains occurs later and is much more dependent on structured instruction because it must proceed in the absence of the skeletal structures that direct early learning. The distinction between core and non-core domains is developed with particular reference to representations of number and quantity, in animals, infants, young children, and adults. The role of language in humans is also considered. These content-rich ideas about mental structures are related to Piaget's general stage theory.