Objects, Actions, and Images: A Perspective on Early Number Development

Abstract

It is the purpose of this article to present a review of research evidence that indicates the existence of qualitatively different thinking in elementary number development. In doing so, the article summarizes empirical evidence obtained over a period of 10 years. This evidence first signaled qualitative differences in numerical processing, and was seminal in the development of the notion of procept. More recently, it examines the role of imagery in elementary number processing. Its conclusions indicate that in the abstraction of numerical concepts from numerical processes qualitatively different outcomes may arise because children concentrate on different objects or different aspects of the objects, which are components of numerical processing. © 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.