ABSTRACT
Introduction Children’s interest in regularities they encounter in their day-to-day lives is known to most parents by what children choose to comment upon, the direct questions they ask, and the content of their play. The types of assumptions and questions of children about various kinds of regularities are illustrated in the following anecdote which occurred when a child came home from her first day in the second grade (Mrs. McIntyre is the teacher):
anything else or Mrs. McIntyre will say you’re wrong. You can’t fool around with rules about numbers.
