Research in Subitizing to Examine Early Number Construction

Subitizing, a quick apprehension toward the numerosity of a small group of items (Clements et al., Constructing Number: Merging Perspectives from Psychology and Mathematics Education. Springer, 2019), has been found to explain some early forms of number construction and abstraction. These findings and details of MacDonald’s research findings are discussed in this chapter in relation to how Piaget (The Child’s Conception of Number. Norton Library, 1941/1963) described young children’s number conservation. From the early work of MacDonald and colleagues, around young children’s subitizing, this chapter explores further questions and ponderings, which Piaget’s (Genetic Epistemology. Columbia University Press, 1968/1970) discussions have contributed toward. In particular, this chapter explores questions at the center of MacDonald’s research agenda. These questions include but are not limited to how children’s subitizing activity may relate to their earliest construction of units, how children’s early forms of reversibility develop, and how children with a learning disability may make connections between their number and fraction development. Through these questions, MacDonald hopes that readers will discuss how research agendas set within Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology (1968/1970) can extend the literature in fields similar to the early childhood mathematics field and provide more equitable opportunities for young children to access conceptual number construction in their school and home mathematical experiences.