Early fraction calculation ability

Three- to 7-year-olds' ability to calculate with whole-number, fraction, an d mixed-number amounts was tested using a nonverbal task in which an amount was displayed and then hidden (J. Huttenlocher, N. C. Jordan, & S. C. Levi ne, 1994). Next, an amount was added to or subtracted from the hidden amoun t. The child's task was to determine the hidden amount that resulted from t he transformation. Although fraction problems were more difficult than whol e-number problems, competence on all problem types emerged in the early chi ldhood period. Furthermore, there were striking parallels between the devel opment of whole-number and fraction calculation. This is inconsistent with the hypothesis that early representations of quantity promote learning abou t whole numbers but interfere with learning about fractions (e.g., R. Gelma n, 1991; K. Wynn, 1995, 1997).