ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the ways in which young children develop their understandings of the world around them. It describes what might be meant by conceptual development, and at perspectives on how this occurs in young children, and considers specific aspects of young children’s conceptual thinking. Concepts involve grouping things together in categories on the basis of their characteristics. Jean Piaget suggests that children’s conceptual development follows a path similar to their general cognitive development, and is largely a move from the concrete to the abstract. There is evidence that free, exploratory, play may support children’s learning of causal relationships, though, assert that opportunities for pretend play are particularly important. Young children’s understanding of number and the structure of the number system develops gradually. Thus far, the focus has been largely on children’s acquisition of conceptual understanding in mathematics as part of their daily lives, that is, ‘everyday’ understanding.
