Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/how-children-build-their-understanding-of-numbers/5015139/
Over the Christmas holidays we enjoyed a visit with our granddaughter Lily, now 11_2, who came to spend a few days with us on Cape Cod. My son was very eager to show us Lily's new attainments. "Look Lily," he said holding up two candy canes, "How many?" Lily quickly responded, "Two." Next he held up two fingers and again asked her, "How many." Again, Lily said two. Then, a little shamefacedly, my son held up three fingers and asked, "How many?" Again Lily quickly responded, "Two." For Lily the symbol "two" simply stands for more than one, or many, and does not have any true numerical significance. Lily's behavior is a good example of the fact that numbers, like many other symbols, can signify more than one thing. We cannot be sure what young children intend when they use number words without a little further investigation.Number words can be used as at least three different levels of meaning. At the simplest level, number words can be used as names. When number words are used in this way, we refer to them as nominal numbers. A familiar example is the use of numbers to identify athletes. An athlete who wears ...