Children's use of multiple-counting skills: adaptation to task factors

The purpose of the study was to determine conditions under which young children enumerate by counting in multiples. Thirty-eight kindergartners and first-graders enumerated dot displays and gave verbal reports of their strategies; additionally, they were given an independent assessment of multiple-counting skill. Dot displays varied according to overall numerosity, perceptual arrangement (random, clustered, rectangular), and numerosity of subgroupings. Children were relatively accurate at enumerating small-numerosity and nonrandom displays. They were relatively likely to report counting by multiples, rather than by ones, on small-numerosity and clustered displays. Contingent upon their skill level, children counted by multiple units (twos, threes, and fours) that corresponded to the numerosity of subgroupings (2, 3, and 4). Contrasting effects of different numerosities and perceptual arrangements are discussed in terms of contextual support for the use, and development, of numerical skills among young children.