Understanding the concept of the number among 3-5 years old children

The master's thesis deals with the understanding of the concept of numbers of children aged three to five. The theoretical part includes the basis of numbers and counting, numbers and representation of the numbers and the child's conquest of the concept of number. The empirical part represents the results of the verification abilities of counting of children aged three to five and comparing this with the ability to switch between representations. The research deals with the problem of whether children were able to switch between the representations (concrete, graphical, symbolic and verbal). The master's thesis investigates and shows how a child conquers the concept of numbers up to 10 and how the children's knowledge of the numbers is associated with the ability to switch between representations of numbers. The research approach is a combination of quantitative and qualitative research. Research data for this study were collected through a structured interview in two parts: one part dealt with the child's ability to identify the count, the other part looked at the crossing between the representations of numbers. The study involved 48 children, 16 of the age of 3-3.5 years, 4-4.5 years and 5-5.5 years. The survey was performed in one of Ljubljana’s kindergartens for children whose parents consent to participation of children in research. A concrete goal of the research findings features three- four- and five-year-olds with a view to counting and switching among representations of numbers. The research showed that gender does not affect the performance of children when it comes to counting and the age of the children is an important factor that affects the understanding of numbers. When children were counting according to the principles of counting and changing between representations there have been less successful younger than older children. Of all the transitions between representations, for the children it was most difficult to migrate from the concrete to the symbolic representation. It was easiest to migrate from the graphical representation to the concrete. It turns out that the switching between representations is an effective indicator of the child's understanding of the concept of number. The findings are useful to help kindergarten teachers to plan activities for counting at pre-school age