Subitizing: The Neglected Quantifier

We define and describe how subitizing activity develops and relates to early quantifiers in mathematics. Subitizing is the direct perceptual apprehension and identification of the numerosity of a small group of items. Although subitizing is too often a neglected quantifier in educational practice, it has been extensively studied as a critical cognitive process. We believe that subitizing also helps explain early cognitive processes that relate to early number development and thus deserves more instructional attention. We also contend that integrating developmental/cognitive psychology and mathematics education research affords opportunities to develop learning trajectories for subitizing. A complete learning trajectory includes three components: goal, developmental progression, or learning path through which children move through levels of thinking, and instruction. Such a learning trajectory thus helps establish goals for educational purposes and frames instructional tasks and/or teaching practices. Through this chapter, it is our hope that early childhood educators and researchers begin to understand how to develop critical educational tools for early childhood mathematics instruction. Through this instruction, we believe that children will be able to use subitizing to discover critical properties of number and build on subitizing to develop capabilities such as unitizing, cardinality, and arithmetic capabilities.