Abstract
The aims of the present research were to show a shift in distribution strategies and to identify cues that might possibly trigger such a shift when children are required to distribute chips into a set number of boxes, in a situation in which the children could not see the results of that distribution. Participants were 80 children (40 4-year-olds, 40 6-year-olds). More than 80% of the 4-year-old children performed correctly on a task in which they were asked to distribute 4 chips into 2 boxes, but their correct responses decreased when the number of chips was increased. However, the 6-year-old children's performance showed no such deterioration. It was found that even the older children often employed a cyclic distribution strategy. This strategy is easy to use and leads to correct responses. In previous research (Yamana, 2002), a cyclic distribution strategy was more often employed by younger children when the distributed results were visible during the task. It was suggested that a unit strategy, in which children distribute the correct number of chips in one round, might have been used less often in the present study because it was difficult for the children to estimate in advance what the quotient would be, in the absence of visible cues indicating a possible correct response.
