Take a Number: Kids show math insights without instruction
By Bruce Bower
Most children need years to master the basics of adding and multiplying single-digit numbers. Yet by the time they enter kindergarten, a new study finds, kids can solve addition and subtraction problems involving large numbers if they are prompted to consult their intuitive knowledge of approximate quantities rather than to compute precise solutions.
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Children from a range of social and economic backgrounds, tested either in a laboratory or at school, correctly answered a large majority of such math problems on their own when freed of the requirement for calculating exact results, say psychologist Camilla K. Gilmore of the University of Nottingham in England and her colleagues.