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Don't throw the baby out with the math water: Why discounting the developmental foundations of early numeracy is premature and unnecessary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2008

Kevin Muldoon ,
Charlie Lewis  and
Norman Freeman
Kevin Muldoon
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, United Kingdomk.muldoon@hw.ac.ukhttp://www.sls.hw.ac.uk/staffDetails.php?staff_id=37
Charlie Lewis
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Human Development, Psychology Department, Fylde College, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, United Kingdomc.lewis@lancs.ac.ukhttp://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/CharlieLewis.html
Norman Freeman
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TH, United KingdomN.Freeman@bristol.ac.ukhttp://psychology.psy.bris.ac.uk/people/normanfreeman.htm
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Abstract

We see no grounds for insisting that, because the concept natural number is abstract, its foundations must be innate. It is possible to specify domain general learning processes that feed into more abstract concepts of numerical infinity. By neglecting the messiness of children's slow acquisition of arithmetical concepts, Rips et al. present an idealized, unnecessarily insular, view of number development.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 31 , Issue 6 , December 2008 , pp. 663 - 664
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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References

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