Exploring partitive division with young children

Abstract

This paper focuses on a study with 4- and 5-year-olds children understanding of partitive division when discrete quantities are involved. The study analyse how young children understand the inverse divisor-quotient relationship when the dividend is the same. The participants were 30 kindergarten children from Braga, Portugal. Individual interviews were conducted when solving tasks involving the division of 12 and 24 discrete quantities by 2, 3 and 4 recipients. Results showed that 4- and 5-year-olds children have some ideas of division, can estimate for the quotient when the divisor varies and the dividend is constant, and can justify their answers. Educational implications of these results are discussed for kindergarten activities.