Construction of the cardinality principle through counting: critique and conjecture

ABSTRACT Development of the cardinality principle, an understanding that the last number-word recited in counting a collection of items specifies the number of items in that collection, is a critical milestone in developing a concept of number. Researchers in early number development have endeavored to theorize its development. Here we critique two widely respected hypotheses that explain cardinality-principle development as building on young learners’ ability to subitize small numbers. These hypotheses consider subitizing to be the basis of cardinality-principle development. We argue that there is a qualitative and significant difference between subitizing and the cardinality principle and that the explanation provided are insufficient to account for a change of this magnitude. We then propose a conjecture intended to better explain this change. The conjecture describes counting as the medium for a series of reflective abstractions leading to the cardinality principle.