ABSTRACT
Among the child's most important conceptual acquisitions are the information processes that underlie quantification: the knowledge and skills related to the encoding and manipulation of quantitative information. Like the acquisition of another major conceptual system, language, the earliest developments occur long before children enter a classroom, whereas most of the formal aspects of numbers are learned in school. In this chapter, we suggest that the earliest bases for understanding numbers are founded upon innate or early developing perceptual capabilities of the young child. More specifically, we focus on the development of children's understanding of number conservation and the construction of the knowledge required by that transition.
