Mathematical and Analogical Reasoning in Early Childhood

Abstract

The chapters of this book provide further evidence of young children's reasoning abilities. We draw on rich sets of data from a longitudinal and cross-cultural study of young children’s reasoning development as they progressed from preschool through to the end of second grade. The participants included the children and their teachers from schools in Australia and the United States. We pay special attention to the children’s development of mathematical and analogical reasoning in their informative years, given that our earlier studies had highlighted the importance of analogical reasoning in children's mathematical development (Alexander, White, & Daugherty, 1997). The purpose of this first chapter is to provide background information on analogical and mathematical reasoning, and to highlight the issues that are the focus of this book. Consideration is given first to the nature, role, and development of analogical reasoning.