Museum of Science, Boston

Math and Language Cognition

Language and math are important tools that allow humans to better understand the world around them, and communicate with one another. Some cognitive scientists are interested in learning more about how children develop language skills and conceptions about basic math principles, and how the development of math and language skills in early childhood might be interrelated.

Number Estimation

How do children come to understand ‘100’?

Have you ever heard children use numbers such as ‘100’ or ‘1000’ to describe the number of items they see, even when there are only 15 or so items present? Developing estimation skills is an important part of understanding numbers.

This study asks: How do children come to develop an approximate representation of a number?

Previous studies have shown that children learn how to count before they understand the meanings of “number words” like “five” or “twenty”. Even after children learn how to count, it takes them a while to develop the ability to accurately use numbers in situations in which they are unable to count (i.e. estimating the number of dots that are quickly flashed on a computer screen). We are interested in how children come to develop this ability.

This study involves a dot estimation task: we ask kids to estimate the number of dots that are quickly flashed on a computer screen. Some children in the study are given a visual example (i.e. they are told: "this is 20 dots on the screen"), while other children are not given such an example. We are interested in whether presenting children with a visual example first will help them better estimate the number of dots that they see.

This study may help us better understand how children develop estimation skills, and when children come to know the meanings of “number words”.

Learn about other research related to Math and Language Cognition.

This research is conducted by the Laboratory for Developmental Studies at Harvard University

Try it at the Museum

Bone-up on Estimating

Check out the Mystery Skeleton. Ask you child to estimate how many bones they think are in the box. Then, count them! How close was your guess?

Next, have your child try to estimate the number of bones there are in the Human Skeleton, located next to the experiment station.

If you’re really up for a challenge, try estimating the number of sharks’ teeth in the shark jaw hanging on the wall near the Geology Station.

Try it at Home

Let’s Estimate!

Put a few small items, such as jellybeans, paperclips, barrettes, or pens into separate containers. Put a napkin over each container, and give your child a brief look under one napkin at a time. Replace the napkin quickly and ask your child to estimate the number of items in each container. Write down your guesses, and then count the items in each container.

How close were your estimates? Is it harder for your child to estimate when there are more items in each container?