Is the process of subsidizing the same as counting?

When speaking to my fiancé about teaching math in her Kindergarten classroom, she introduced me to the term ‘subsidizing’ which is the brain’s natural ability to instantly recognize quantities.  In her classroom, she uses dot plates, dice and dominoes to teach this concept of subsidizing. She flashes the card and the students automatically know what number they are seeing without having to count the dots.  I really never considered this as a natural built in skill, but rather something we learn as we get older and have had experience with counting quantities or using dice.

It is very interesting to think about some young students who might not have mastered counting in correct order, but are still able to subsidize and recognize a quantity instantly. This really says a lot about our brain’s innate abilities related to mathematics. Our brains learning to subsidize naturally is a skill that can be quite useful in everyday activities. If an individual is able to easily subsidize quantities, then counting large amounts of items will be made easier by viewing items in small groups such as 5’s rather than 1’s.

I relayed this to math class with Professor Antozs; when using the 1000 units of block ten blocks though the young students are unable to count to 1000, they are able to express the number. Even everyday activities such as looking for a table at a restaurant that will hold all the members of your family can be made easier by subsidizing. Rather than having to count each chair at the tables, your brain helps you by instantly recognizing how many chairs are at each table. I would have to say that subsidizing is a phenomenal asset that we possess, it is inherently math based, which in my opinion is extremely cool! When I have students in math who say they hate math, or can't do it. I will give them an example of their inherent subsidizing skill. Then tell them that they are built in Mathematicians, they can do math!!