Young children's measurement knowledge: Understandings about comparison at the commencement of schooling

This paper presents data gathered during a three-year study that explored the experiences with measurement that children have in prior-to-school and out-of-school contexts, and the ways in which children are able to represent these experiences. In this present investigation, examples of the children's responses to an open-ended drawing task, collected at the commencement of Kindergarten, are backward-mapped in relation to the draft Australian Curriculum's Measurement and Geometry strand for Kindergarten, with a focus on the Comparison sub-strand. This data demonstrates that most of the measurement skills described in the Comparison sub-strand of the Australian Curriculum are being exhibited by children at the commencement of schooling, prior to any formal teaching about measurement taking place.