Representation and reasoning in early numerical development: counting, conservation, and comparisons between sets.

The first experiment examined the developmental relation between counting and number conservation in the 3-6-year-old age range. Results indicated extended developments in both children's counting and their conservation reasoning, and a close relation between the 2. Only the oldest children gave evidence of conserving, and they also differentiated appropriately between conservation and control problems in their use of counting. The second and third experiments extended the finding that children below 6 years of age do not conserve to conditions in which counting was precluded. These results provide evidence of protracted developments in young children's understanding of relational aspects of number.