Conceptual Knowledge of Counting: How Relevant is Order Irrelevance?

How important is the principle of order irrelevance in the development of children’s conceptual knowledge of counting? In Study 1 (N=168), high-skilled kindergarten children were more likely to apply a principle of order relevance to another’s counting than were less-skilled children. In Study 2 (N=239), only the oldest children (Grade 5) showed evidence of applying the principle of order irrelevance. The shift towards acquisition of this principle was unrelated to children’s numeration skills after Grade 2. Thus, children’s judgments about counts with unconventional orders appear to represent practical rather than logical considerations.