Date of Award:

5-1970

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Human Development and Family Studies

Department name when degree awarded

Family and Child Development

Committee Chair(s)

Carroll C. Lambert

Committee

Carroll C. Lambert

Committee

Don C. Carter

Committee

E. Malcom Allred

Abstract

The effects of the child's chronological age, his sex, and a second concept of color were studied as they effected the counting skills and number recognition abilities in preschool children. The research was conducted at the Utah State University Child Development Laboratories with the subjects being three and four-year-old children enrolled at that time. Each child was given counting and number recognition tasks involving cubes in sets of one color and also in sets which involved two colors.

It was found that as the age of the child increased, his ability to correctly count and label sets of cubes also increased. An interesting trend was found when the sex and the age of the child were considered together. Girls and boys responded differently to the counting and number recognition tasks. At an earlier age girls showed a greater language facility with the numbers; on the other hand, boys showed an earlier development in meaning of numbers.

The smaller numbers involved were easier for the children to identify and seemed to hold much more meaning for them. The introduction of the color variable influenced the ability of the child to correctly label the number of cubes; however, many of the children did not mention the presence of cubes of two colors.

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