What schemes do preschoolers’ develop when using multi-touch applications to foster number sense (and why)?

As part of an educational project proposed in Italian preschools, an educator followed a protocol that had been used in a previous study (Baccaglini-Frank and Maracci 2015) proposing two chosen iPad apps to children of ages 5-6. This study investigates the schemes developed by the children in response to the apps, and the role the educator’s interventions seem to play in such development. Analyses of the data collected suggest that her interventions privileged and encouraged schemes involving counting, which limited the variety of schemes enacted and the aspects of number sense strengthened through the protocol.