Production and Recognition of Linguistic and Numerical Notations by Children

Abstract

Alphabetic and numeric notation systems exhibit distinct properties, which require children's ability to produce and recognize their own graphic marks. This quasi-experimental study investigated the notation knowledge of children (4–6 years old) through tasks of production and recognition of notations in the linguistic and numeric domains. The data revealed that, beginning at the age of four, children differentiated letters and numbers and adopted conventional notations appropriate to each domain, even while still using drawings. A comparison between ages showed differences in performance only in the production task. Conclusions suggest that the ability to recognize notations precedes the ability to produce them.