Young children's knowledge and strategies for comparing sizes

This study examined the knowledge and strategies that young children used for comparing sizes of geometric figures. Sixty-nine children from the ages 3 to 6 years were asked to compare sizes of geometric figures and their placement and adjustment strategies were observed. The children were also presented with strategies for comparing sizes and asked to choose the most effective one. As a result, children showed four different patterns of uses of strategies and judgments. Differences among children showing the four patterns (referred to as clusters 1-4) were summarized as follows: (a) children in clusters 2-4 made correct judgments for the relative sizes of figures placed on one another, (b) children in clusters 3 and 4 very often used the strategy of adjustment based on two dimensions, (c) only children in cluster 4 very often used the strategies of superimposition and adjustment based on two dimensions at the same time and made more correct judgments for the relative areas of two figures; and (d) children in cluster 4 selected as effective the strategy of adjusting figures based on two dimensions.