Young Children's Understanding of Equals :A Longitudinal Study

This paper examines the change in young children’s understanding of equals as equivalence over a three-year period and their ability to express this understanding in real world problems. Seventy-six children participated in the longitudinal study. The results indicate that approximately one third of the sample had an understanding of equals as equivalence and the difficulties and misunderstandings they experienced in Year 3 persisted through to the end of Year 5. Many of those who appeared to have an understanding of equivalence could not express this understanding as real world problems.