Number concept acquisition during pre-school age

Abstract

Number concept is defined as a person’s general understanding to perform operation on numbers. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2002), USA (it is world’s largest mathematics organisation), states that “the foundation for children’s mathematical development is established in the earliest years”. Therefore, pre-school age is crucial period of life and considerable amount of attention should be paid to this phase. It is the time when skills are attained which acts as a foundation for all the subsequent years in the life-span. Studies show that to lead a positive life in future it is necessary to expose children to number concepts in early years of life. Thus, the study aimed at assessing attainment of number concepts in pre-school children. The number concepts were assessed in the categories of Number sense, Number representation and Number relation, which are based on the five principles of counting proposed by Gelman and Galistell. The study was carried out on twenty four numbers of pre-school children belonging to the age of 3- 4 years, selected through purposive sampling method. The investigator developed activities to assess the number concepts formed by preschool children. It was found that the concept of Number sense i.e. naming and matching numbers were better formed in children than Number representation and Number relation. The concept of number relation was not clear in preschool children. Among the three areas of Number relation viz., Sequencing, Cardinality and Magnitude, it was found that children performed well in the activities of sequencing numbers and poor in cardinality of numbers. It is very important for young children to master with the early number concepts for later achievement in mathematics.