CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO LITERACY AND NUMERACY SKILLS

What are Literacy Skills?

Literacy has been defined in various ways over the years. Previously, being able to sign your
name was considered a reasonable sign of literacy. Our understanding of what it means to be
literate has altered and current definitions have taken into account the literacy demands of the
society we live in. A more recent definition of literacy is the understanding, evaluating, using
and engaging with written texts to participate in society, to achieve personal goals and ambitions
and to develop knowledge and potential.

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in ways that will allow us to communicate
effectively to a variety of different audiences and to make sense of the world. Reading and
writing, when integrated with speaking, listening and viewing and critical thinking, constitutes
valued aspects of literacy in modern life. Literacy is a critical component to ensure all students
have the best chance to succeed in their studies and everyday life.

What are numeracy Skills?

We are all required to be numerate to maximise our potential and to make a positive contribution
to society. In our exceedingly technical world, numeracy skills, in particular the ability to
interpret data, are becoming increasingly more significant and are hugely sought after by
employers. An absence of mathematical confidence and poor numeracy skills are obstructions to
employment as numeracy tests are increasingly becoming a routine part of the recruitment
process.

Rapidly growing technological advances are making the need for numeracy skills more critical
within the workplace. With more employees engaging in more sophisticated tasks, numeracy is
recognised as an essential employability skill.

Numeracy is defined as the ability to access, use and interpret and communicate mathematical
information and ideas, in order to engage in and manage the mathematical demands of various
situations in adult years. To be numerate is to confidently and effectively use mathematics to
meet the everyday demands of life.

Numeracy is important for individuals to develop logical thinking and reasoning strategies in
their everyday activities. We need numeracy to solve problems and make sense of numbers,
time, patterns and shapes for activities like cooking, reading receipts, reading instructions and
even playing sport.

Literacy and numeracy help people gain the fundamental skills necessary to achieve success in
life. There is a huge national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy and to support students
to live a satisfying and rewarding life as well as being an active participant as an active and well
informed resident. Literacy and numeracy skills are crucial for accessing the broader curriculum
because they are used in many aspects of our lives. Workplace numeracy, literacy and
employability skills are often used in conjunction with one another. These required skills often
overlap and are necessary for any task.

Numeracy
Basic number concepts and skills (numeracy) generally emerge before school entry. It is important
to promote the development of these competencies in young children and to know the best learning
methods, as these skills are often predictive of children’s future school achievement.

Numerical skills emerge during infancy and the preschool years when children are exposed to
different quantitative and spatial relations in everyday activities.

Many school-age children struggle to learn math concepts and skills. Understanding the early
development of numeracy can provide early childhood educators and elementary school teachers
with the tools they need to nurture mathematical thinking.
Children mostly learn through:
(a) Children’s ability to recite and count acquired in this way is called social knowledge.

At this stage children do not yet understand that numbers and symbols represent numbers of certain
things. For example they do not understand that number three stands for three of something,
e.g. three years, three scores, three days, etc. The children recite letters and numbers and parents
become their first teachers.

Although social knowledge is an important aspect of learning, we must not confuse this ability
with true understanding. Most children start school with an impressing amount of social
knowledge. In addition, to being able to recite letters and numbers, they know names and many
common objects and familiar phrases.
(b) Physical Knowledge

Their natural urge to explore and touch things leads them to develop physical knowledge which
is derived from a child’s actions on things. For example, a child learns what a ball means by
handling and throwing it, watching it bounce and generally playing with it. Through direct action,
he/she learns about properties of a ball like shape, size, colour, texture and smell. Children do not
gain physical knowledge by being told.

They learn it through direct hands on experience. Preschool mathematics skills are also developed
through concrete experience since numbers are symbols. They are best understood if the teacher
attracts children to concrete or real objects that they are familiar with.

The classroom provides many opportunities to acquire physical knowledge about numbers. For
example, I drunk 3 cups of juice, ate 2 scones and measured 4 cups of dough or I need 5 more
blocks to build my house. Children continue to reinforce social knowledge when they recite
numbers in figure play or use numbers in the alphabet.

(c) School activities

A teachers can provide other activities for children to acquire pre number skill e.g. coat to hanger,
cup to saucers, small blocks to larger blocks, practice one to one correspondence when they help
the teacher distribute a basket of oranges; one apple for you, one for me and one for Jane.

Preschool mathematics skills are also developed through concrete experiences since numbers are
symbols, they are best understood if the teacher attaches them to concrete objects that are familiar
to children.

THE CHILD’S WORLD OF MATHEMATICS

The mathematics experience is just another way in which young children try to sense out of their
surroundings. They are actively involved in the physical world and are naturally curious about
numbers, shapes, position and size. They discover basic mathematics concepts in everyday
experiences. Examples:

 Playing with building blocks( Shapes, size and position)

 Playing in sand pits( weight, mass)

 Shopping and banking in the fantasy corner( value of money)

 Making a graph to see who is the tallest in the group( height)

 Measuring how fast beans can be grown( socialize, vocabulary, speed)

 They have positive feeling about numbers and their uses and don’t see them as they really are.
Mathematical concepts develop naturally as young learners manipulate real objects, solve
problems and learn and try new words about their experience. Therefore, mathematics is not “a
sit at you desk with pencil and paper activity”. It is an activity hands on part of life rooted in
concrete that children have on daily experience. It is an activity “hands on” part of life rooted in
concrete that children have on daily experience.

MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS AND HOW TO USE THEM WHEN TEACHING KIDS

PRE-MATHEMATICS

1. CONSERVATION
What is Conservation?
Conservation. Conservation is one of Piaget's developmental accomplishments, in which the
child understands that changing the form of a substance or object does not change its amount,
overall volume, or mass. This accomplishment occurs during the concrete operational stage of
development between ages 7 and 11.

2. SEQUENCING
What is sequencing for preschoolers?

Sequencing is understanding how a series of objects, events, and time occur in a specific and
logical order. This is a very important concept for preschool children to develop, as it
allows children to recognize patterns that make the world more understandable and predictable.

Sequencing is one of many skills that contributes to students' ability to comprehend what they
read. Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story, such as the beginning,
middle, and end, and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which
they occurred.

Why teach story sequence? It assists with comprehension, especially for narrative
texts. Sequence structures help students of varying abilities organize information and ideas
efficiently. Sequencing is also an important component of problem-solving across the
curriculum, including science and social studies.

How to Teach Sequencing Skills to Children

1. Step 1: First and Last. ...
2. Step 2: Rearranging Three Steps to Familiar Events. ...
3. Step 3: Ordering Three Steps and Re-Telling the Event. ...
4. Step 4: Sequencing Three Steps without Pictures. ...
5. Step 5: Increasing the Number of Steps. ...
6. Step 6: Sequencing Steps from Stories and Past Events.

Example: the sequence {3, 5, 7, 9, ...} And so we get: {3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, ...}

Have your child gather some of his/her favorite toys and items from around the house. Items should
vary in color, shape, and/or size. Then have at it! Ask your child:

o Put the baseball first. The football second. The soccerball last.

o Put the basketball after the football and before the soccerball.

o Place the football between the basketball and baseball.

o Take the football out of the middle and put it in the front.

3. SERIATION
What is seriation?
Seriation Skills can be defined as “the ability to arrange objects in order by size”. The
development of seriation skills is a step-by-step developmental process. As children grow and
develop, their ability to seriate will also develop. For instance, a very young child (two years old)
may not be able to seriate at all.

4. MATCHING
What are matching skills?
Matching is an important classification skill for preschoolers. Matching helps us identify same
or similar objects based on their common properties. ... Some of
the important early matching skills that a child needs to develop are: Matching for Shape.

Matching is an important early childhood math skill that keeps repeating throughout one’s
educational life in various forms. Matching is an important classification skill for preschoolers.
Matching helps us identify same or similar objects based on their common properties. For example,
the underlying skill in identifying congruent or similar triangles is, Matching. In Algebra, if there
is a perfect one-to-one correspondence function between two sets, it is again essentially matching.
Some of the important early matching skills that a child needs to develop are:

1. Matching for Shape

2. Matching for Size
3. Matching for Colour
4. Matching One to One
5. Matching same Sets/Collections

This too is intuitive but often ignored early childhood mathematical skill. We human beings like
to sort. This helps us bring order to chaos. Imagine that you are given 20 Balls. In this collection,
there are 4 balls each of 5 different colours. Sorting can then be thought of as the act of dividing
these 20 balls into 5 smaller groups of 4 balls each, based on colour. It is no wonder that experts
consider sorting to be an important pre math skill. Like matching, sorting too is an important
classification skill. In general, from an early childhood perspective, the basic sorting skills that a
child needs to develop are:

1. Sorting by Colour
2. Sorting by Size
3. Sorting by Shape

5.CLASSIFICATION
What is classification?
Sorting and classifying are basic skills taught to children as part of preschool and
kindergarten math programs. These activities require children to organize items into groups based
on a common characteristic such as size, color, shape, texture, or flavor and also explain why they
grouped the items as they did.

Classification is a fundamental pre-number learning concept that children learn about the world
around them. Classifying and sorting can be done with or without using numbers, such as
separating children or objects into distinct groups, such as the colour of their t-shirts, or their hair
colour.

Sorting is so much important to kids. This too is intuitive but often ignored early childhood
mathematical skill. We human beings like to sort. This helps us bring order to chaos. Imagine that
you are given 20 Balls. In this collection, there are 4 balls each of 5 different colours. Sorting can
then be thought of as the act of dividing these 20 balls into 5 smaller groups of 4 balls each, based
on colour. It is no wonder that experts consider sorting to be an important pre math skill. Like
matching, sorting too is an important classification skill. In general, from an early childhood
perspective, the basic sorting skills that a child needs to develop are:

4. Sorting by Colour
5. Sorting by Size
6. Sorting by Shape

SORTING This is the study of differences. An operation that segregates items into groups
according to a specified criterion; the basic cognitive process of arranging into classes or
categories; grouping by class, kind or size.

ORDERING
Logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements. The act of putting things in a
sequential arrangement. The process of grading different objects according to a given criteria. An
example of ordering can be found in ordinal and cardinal numbers.

CARDINAL NUMBERS:
The number of elements in a mathematical set; denotes a quantity but not the order. These are
nature numbers such as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.

Experience of ordering:
Ask a child to count the number of people when setting up a table or when seated at table or
comparing kitchen utensils e.g. the child will compare a big spoon to daddy and a small spoon to
a young sister.

ORDINAL NUMBERS
The number designating place in an ordered sequence. These numbers show position, e.g. first,
second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.

5.ONE TO ONE CORRESPONDENCE

What is one to one correspondence?
One-to-one correspondence is an early learning math skill that involves the act of
counting each object in a set once, and only once with one touch per object.
 In mathematics, one-to-one correspondence refers to a situation in which the members of one set
(call it A) can be evenly matched with the members of a second set (call it B). ... Another method
of establishing a one-to-one correspondence between A and B is to define a one-to-one function.

A child that understands one-to-one correspondence knows that 2 cookies = 2 or that 5 raisins =
5. Many young children have memorized the number words in the proper order, but sometimes do
not yet understand the concept of one-to-one correspondence. For example, they might say
“1,2,3,4,5" but skip an object.

Here are some simple ways you can help support the development of one-to-one
correspondence skills in your classroom:
1. Counting together with children.
2. Pointing to objects in a set as you say each number word aloud.
3. Moving each object in a set as you say each number word aloud.

One to one correspondence is an early, but simple form of math that a toddler learns as early as 2
years of age. When they begin to recognize, match, and count objects, they are learning one to one
correspondence. Simply put, they are counting sets of matching elements. Each object in front of
them will have a matching number; each cookie has a number, each piece of candy has a number,
and each person in the room has a number.

How to Teach One to One Correspondence

The teaching process of one to one correspondence is simple and probably something you have
been doing already and didn’t even know it. During the teaching process, use objects that are fun
and colorful for your toddler. Using things like blocks, animal crackers, and small balls work well.
Using books with colorful and numbered patterns are always a good choice as well. Whatever you
decide to use, line the objects in a row close together and count them as you set them in place. Ask
your child to a place a finger on each one and count them down the row. Touch is important for
understanding. Use colorful objects and say, one blue block, two yellow blocks, etc. Once they
count them down the row mix them up and have them start from the beginning once again. This is
to assure they understand and that they haven’t memorized an order of sequence.

One to One Correspondence Activities

The activities that you choose can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. Most of the
activities can be created with household items, but there are some things you can purchase to
include in the fun. One to one correspondence activities is best absorbed when you sit down one
on one with your child giving them your full attention and guidance.
Counting Fruity O’s
This activity is fun and tasty too! Using fruity O cereal, you can simply place some in a bowl and
ask your little one to count out each color consecutively. For an example, tell them to count out
the purple ones, then the red ones, etc. Start out the younger ones with up to 5 of each color and
then gradually increase the number as they improve their skills. Don’t forget to mix it up so they
don’t count the colors from memorization. This activity is great for helping you towards
your preschool goals of learning and color recognition.

6. PATTERNS

Understanding mathematical patterns allows someone to identify such patterns when they first
appear. After all, you can not gain the benefit of patterns if you can't see them and you can only
see them if you understand them.

Patterns provide a sense of order in what might otherwise appear chaotic. When you notice that
things happen in a certain pattern - even something as mundane as a bus always stopping at a
certain corner at 5pm - order is provided.

Patterns allow someone to make educated guesses. Much science is based on making a hypothesis
and hypothoses are often based on understanding patterns. Similarly, we make many common
assumptions based on recurring patterns.

Understanding patterns aid in developing mental skills. In order to recognize patterns one need to
have an understanding of critical thinking and logic and these are clearly important skills to
develop.

Patterns can provide a clear understanding of mathematical relationships. This can be seen in a
very evident manner in the form of multiplication tables. 2 x2, 2 x 4, 2 x 6 are clearly examples of
the relationship pattern found in multiplication.

Understanding patterns can provide the basis for understanding algebra. This is because a major
component of solving algebra problems involves data analysis which is deeply related to the
understanding of patterns. Without being able to recognize the appearance of patterns the ability
to be proficient in algebra will be limited.

Understanding patterns provide a clear basis for problem solving skills. In a way, this is related to
critical thinking but more directed towards mathematics specifically. Patterns essentially provide
a means of recognizing the broader aspects that can be shored down in order to arrive at the specific
answer to a particular problem.

Knowledge of patterns is transferred into science fields where they prove very helpful.
Understanding animal patterns has been used to help endangered species. Understanding weather
patterns not only allows one to predict the weather but also predict the common impact of weather
which can aid in devising the appropriate response in an emergency situation.

One of the lesser known aspects of patterns is the fact that they often form the basis of music. For
example, there are various patterns of notes that provide the basis for proper harmony on a piano.
If you don't believe patterns are important when playing a piano simply walk up to the nearest
piano and start banging away randomly at the keys. You probably won't hear any songs that you
recognize!

Patterns provide clear insight into the natural world. While animals and certainly plants are far
from thinking beings they do have certain habits that exist in patterns and understanding these
behavioral patterns provides a clearer understanding of all living things.

It is safe to say that the benefits of understanding patterns open many doors where this knowledge
can be applied. Of course, that is a commonality with all forms of learning mathematical logic:
there is a deep application that can be provided that we often do not realize when we first study
the material. With understanding patterns - and other forms of math - sometimes you really need
to stick with it for the long term, but with that practice comes skill. Researchers have found that
pattern skills can be learned relatively quickly.
CHAPTER 2: IDEAS AND CONCEPTS OF TEACHING TIME
CONCEPTS AND IDEAS OF TEACHING TIME
Children learn best when they can touch, feel or see something, so time can be confusing for
them. A childs readiness for learning about time is based on the stages of brain development.
The process is slow and may take years, but children begin to understand the concept around
age 11.

Time is progressively measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades,
centuries and millenniums.

years in one century

Both the clock and a calendar are measurement of time. Clock measures seconds, minutes and

hours while a calendar measures days, weeks and months. Even though time is not specific, it is
still fixable. There 24 hours in a day, but one can structure what can be done within the 24
hours. Time regulates what children can do e.g.:

the night
Time influences the food one eats eg:

Time influences one’s recreation:

key in winter, baseball in spring and football in summer

Time influences the clothes one wears:

and warmer ones for the other part of

the day.

Time is an element of measurement in holidays, birthdays and other events:

f December.
Time is an element of measurement in seasons, weather, light, darkness and speed.
easons - cold winter, rainy summer, watery spring, dry autumn.

VOCABULARY WORDS RELATING TO TIME:

Today Spring Early Later

Yesterday Afternoon Late Soon
Tomorrow Evening Summer BC
Year Midnight Day AD
Decade AM Second Hour
Century PM Minute Week
Night Millennium Autumn Month

MASS AND WEIGHT

Mass is the composition of object itself or number of atoms. The property of a body that causes it
to have weight in a gravitational field. Weight is the measurement of the pull of gravity upon
mass. The vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity. The pull is not constant.

SUGGESTED PLAN

, kilograms, tones, etc

Vocabulary words relating to mass and weight
Heavy Light More weight Kilograms
Heavier Lighter Less weight Grams
Heaviest Lightest Weighs the same tones
Balance Mass Weight

Materials used to teach the concept of mass and weight to children

Shells Pencils Dusters
Building blocks Bean bags Chalk
Books Crayons Match boxes

EXPERIENCE OF WEIGHT
Children need to be introduced to many activities such as playing in a shop corner where they
can carry heavy and light luggage and have to guess whether the luggage was heavy or light.
They can also play with toy scales and weigh objects of different sizes.

GOALS OF AND AIMS OF TEACHING PRESCHOOL MATHEMATICS

prepare children to solve simple mathematical problems

ordering, sequencing, comparison, time and number itself.

manipulate mathematical objects.

classification and number conservation.

CHAPTER 3: IMPORTANCE OF USING CORNERS IN PRE-SCHOOLS
CORNERS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Corners are used to teach various concepts; for instance concepts of the following:

Hospital Corner
This is a place in a preschool class where a hospital scenario is depicted.
Nature corner
This is a corner where insects and plants are depicted.

Book corner
This is a place where a variety of books rather than literatures are found. They are mainly books
for children to acquire concepts of art of language, reading, writing and listening.
Home corner
Here, scenes reminiscent of home life are depicted.
Shop corner
It is place in a classroom reserved for items found in a shop like soap, Colgate, sugar, teabags,
money, etc. and activities that go on in a shop.. In the shop corner children practice buying and
selling and in doing this, they will learn the following:
During the above activities, children will therefore learn the concepts sorting or classifying and
money.

DESIGNING MATHEMATICAL CURRICULUM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

COMPONENTS OF A CURRICULUM

(1) A framework of assumptions about the learner and the society such as learners’ capacity and
ability, aptitudes and potential for learning, motivation, needs, interests and values as well as
society’s orientation to nurturing or using the individual gainfully.
(2) Aims and objectives (i.e., why education should be provided and towards what direction).

(3) Content or subject-matter with selection of what is to be taught and learnt, scope of the subject-
matter and its sequence.

(4) Modes of transaction which deals with the process of teaching-learning and includes
methodology of teaching, learning experiences both within the institution and outside, learning
environments, teachers’ material as well as students’ material.
(5) Evaluation methods and techniques for students.

Curricula differ from each other on the basis of the extent of emphasis given to each of these
elements, the extent and manner of linking these elements with each other and the style of decision-
making pertaining to each of these elements.

For example, one institution places more emphasis on the intellectual development of students
whereas another institution emphasizes developing ideal, democratic citizens.
The selection of subject-matter will, therefore, different these two institutions with the first
institution incorporating programmes and activities aimed at developing rationality and thinking.

Thus, both these institutions; would believe in different theories of learning and teaching thereby
differing in the nature and sequence of subject-matter and learning experiences.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN MAKING A CURRICULUM

Mathematics began with the needs of the primitive man and has grown as these needs have
increased with the development and progress of civilization.
Mathematics should prepare the child to fit his knowledge to the changing world. It is important
to note the importance of the application of mathematical knowledge to such modern
developments as space rockets, television, study of the planets and stars, mobile phones,
information technology, etc. The past generations did not sufficiently apply mathematical
knowledge to such areas. The demand by all tertiary institutions for mathematics as a
prerequisite for qualification and also the decree by different countries revenue authority to use
electronic teals in all the shops has made the teaching of mathematics from the preschool to
secondary level a must and an important ingredient in the preschool and school curricula.

Mathematics is associated with things seen and interacted with in our daily lives. Through the
telephone calls made, the bus fares paid, the counting of days and dates etc, mathematics is being
used on daily basis. Some cultural aspects of our lives also are associated with mathematics e.g.
“itepe”. Therefore, preschool mathematics curriculum in early childhood centers should be based
ob both the cultural and everyday aspects of mathematics. It should bring out the present and
future needs of the child and also take into account his/her readiness. Mathematics in early
childhood must first develop understanding. It must train the child in logical thinking (common
sense) and reasoning.

AIMS OF TEACHING PRESCHOOL MATHEMATICS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

EDUCATION.

shopping in the school tuck-shop, measuring, reading time, etc.

mathematics
 of language and relationship between
things.

explore, describe and record mathematical

information

mathematical information.

to our present civilization.

CHAPTER 4
THE PRINCIPLES OF MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION

rediscovery(finding out again) and extension

spiral; moving outward and upward.

with material equipment. The use of correct vocabulary is then used to describe what
he/she has done. Attempting to teach too much too soon without understanding leads
children to develop a bad attitude towards mathematics. Not all children find
mathematics easy.

THE NEED FOR MATHEMATICAL RULES

For a child to work accurately with numbers and do calculations, there are certain things he/she
must know. These should be habits formed by practice. Practice comes only after understanding.
Good habits and consolidation of facts come only with practice. As a teacher, do not assume that
because you have treated a section of work, then the child knows it. There should be lots of
revision and lots of application of the work taught. Remember that revision should not be
meaningless drill, but the repetition of the work must be varied and interesting to the child.
Forgetting is an every day part of every one’s life and children tend to forget easily. If they have
a good understand of what they are doing, it will help them remember.

Always make sure that children understand previous work and can use it before presenting a new
stage in the work. The foundation of any work is very important. When taking over any new
children, assess them before planning any work. A good teacher takes nothing for granted, but
always checks first. For example, it is bad to attempt to teach children addition if they don’t
know the value of a number or numeral.

The children should always go from the known to unknown. Make sure the step before is
understood and known before moving on to the next step. Remember that children progress at
different pace (individual differences) and therefore some children are ready to move on before
others.

ENJOYING THE SUBJECT

The child’s attitude to mathematics is important indeed in learning. If children dislike the
subject, their progress in it will be slow. Children will only concentrate if they enjoy what they
are doing and it is therefore the responsibility of a teacher to make mathematics enjoyable and
interesting. Enjoyment will only come if the children are active and if they are being successful
in what they are doing. Success develops confidence and interest and these two together with
good teaching develop enjoyment. Success at mathematics, interest and enjoyment of the subject
can only be achieved when consideration is given to individual development and readiness.

This simply means children have reached a stage where they are ready to learn a particular type
of work. Children (or adults) do not learn a new process properly until they have had necessary
previous experiences and until they have developed the physical and mental powers needed to
understand it. Teachers can help to make children ready by giving the right type of experiences
in school, particularly when children come from families with somewhat limited background of
experiences.
A CHILD’S EXPERIENCES BEFORE STARTING SCHOOL
Children can get experience of numbers before they commence school. This happens through the
following:
a) Hearing- First contact with numbers is through hearing conversations at home child first hears
names of numbers being used at home such as few days remaining in the month, more meat, two
pictures, etc. The child begins to use these by imitation without really understanding their
meaning.
b) Seeing- The child “sees” differences in groups of things, e.g. two legs in mother and father,
four legs in a dog, sees the difference between a group of plates, a group of cups, etc, and yet
he/she does not yet know the number of the group that makes it different. The child can only see
a group od similar objects(set of things).
c) Doing- A child sorts objects into different groups, eg red beads into one group and blue ones
into another; big stones and small ones, etc.
d) Counting- The child will begin to count, that he begins to say names of numbers in sequence.
This counting will at first be merely the relation of words in particular order, ie rote counting or
memorized without meaning.

THE USE OF CONCEPTS IN PRE-MATHEMATICS

A concept may be defined as an idea formed in our own minds about an object or group of
objects or events having common characteristics. An abstract or general idea inferred or
derived from specific instances. Clearly all concepts are noun like, they help us to name
objects, processes and events whose characteristics we have internalized in our mental
process through interaction with the environment. We are also able to describe the world
around us because we have formed concepts about the things around us.