PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S UNDERSTANDING OF EQUALITY: OPTING FOR A NARROW OR A BROAD INTERPRETATION?

Mathematical concepts and symbols are often introduced at first in a narrow meaning. The harmful consequences of such initial presentation are widely reported in mathematics education. The present paper asks the following question: Is it essential to introduce the equal sign in a narrow meaning as an operation and not in its broader meaning as a relation? We found that preschool children are capable of addressing changes simultaneously made to two quantities (adding or subtracting the same or even a different number of elements to/from two groups of objects), a capability needed when handling relations. These findings call for looking more closely at the possibility of introducing the equal sign in its broader meaning, as a relation ("the same").