Are you smarter than a 5-year old?
In a just-published study in the journal Developmental Science, lead author Melissa Kibbe and Lisa Feigenson find that most preschoolers and kindergartners, or children between 4 and 6, can do basic algebra naturally. At least, that's the case when a problem is presented without digits but in objects.
Melissa Kibbe explains to John Patti of Maryland's News Now that this study shows how kids will perform once those objects are replaced by digits. "We'd like to continue to look how we can help children harness their innate ability to quantify objects," she says about the study's next steps.
Even though this kind of basic algebraic reasoning is so simple and natural for 4, 5 and 6-year-olds, the question remains why it is so difficult for teens and others.
Listen to the full interview above.