ABSTRACT
The domain-specific view of cognitive development, and of number development in particular, is heavily influenced by research in animal cognition. Two core issues run through the debate. The first is the question of the generality of cognitive-developmental structures and processes. The second concerns the extent to which cognitive development is an autonomous process, reflecting the child’s self-directed inquiry about the world, versus the extent to which it is structured and guided by the patterns of activity and interaction that prevail in the culture in which the child lives. Jean Piaget is well known for a theory of cognitive development whose main tenets are, first, that development is a constructive process and, second, that development proceeds through a sequence of stages. An influential alternative to Piaget’s view of cognitive development generally and of mathematical development specifically is the idea that there are several distinct domains within cognitive development, one of which is the domain of number knowledge.
