What makes a task a problem in early childhood education? Ramírez Uclés, Rafael Castro Rodríguez, Elena Piñeiro, José Luis Ruiz Hidalgo, Juan Francisco Characteristics of Problems Division Early childhood Mathematical problems Pre-primary Education Problem solving This article begins with a theoretical discussion of the characteristics that a task should feature to be regarded as a mathematics problem suitable for pre-primary students. Those considerations are followed by a report of a classroom experience in which three problems involving quotative or partitive division were posed to pre-primary school pupils to determine the presence of otherwise of the respective characteristics. The findings show that the characteristics of pre-primary education problems depend on two factors: mathematical activity that engages pupils and a structure that favours both their understanding of the problem and the application and verification of the solutions. 2020-12-02T12:45:20Z 2020-12-02T12:45:20Z 2018 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Ramírez, R., Castro-Rodríguez, E., Piñeiro, J. L. y Ruiz-Hidalgo, J. F. (2018) What makes a task a problem in early childhood education? European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26(4), 574-588 [doi: 10.1080/1350293X.2018.1487165] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/64598 10.1080/1350293X.2018.1487165 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Routledge