Mathematical Cognition and Learning: Recent Episodes
voicEd Radio
Presentations and conversations from the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference and the Counting on Teachers Forum held in Ottawa, Canada in June 2019
Dr. Helena Osana is a Professor and University Research Chair in Mathematical Cognition and Instruction at Concordia University, Dr. Osana was also the principle investigator on the grant that funded behind the Counting on Teachers Forum, held this year as part of the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference, Ottawa.
In this conversation we talk about the journey into the world of research, but also about the important connects that need to be made between the world of education research and the practitioner community.
Dr. Martha Alibali conducts research at the intersection of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, and mathematics education. Her primary line of research investigates mathematics learning and development, with a special focus on the role of gesture in mathematical thinking and knowledge change. She is also interested in the role of gesture in thinking and communication, particularly in educational settings.
Jalisha Braxton, a Doctoral student from the University of Chicago, presents her work on adult math anxiety, and the implications when negative feelings toward math are not addressed in
childhood.
In this session, Lydia DeFlorio presents on behalf of WestEd's Prentice Starkey, exploring mathematical interventions in school. The research of Prentice Starkey, Centre Co-Director from WestEd in San Fransisco, is shared, including findings on preparing high-needs children for standards-based math instruction in Elementary School through involvement in two years of mathematics enrichment
Sarah Melo is a Master's student and teacher and, in this presentation, she discusses her intervention work with parents as they lead number talks at home with their children.
Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, psychology professor at Elon University, presents her research on parental guidance of preschoolers' inquiry and mathematical activities in the home.
Tracy Solomon (OISE/UT) describes the JUMP Math program, a unique, Canadian approach to K-8 math instruction, and show how its central tenets are empirically supported. This presentation includes a report on the results from two randomized-controlled studies involving 1400+ elementary students and their 200+ teachers in 60 schools in two different Canadian school boards.
The results revealed positive effects of JUMP Math instruction on growth in elementary math achievement. The authors also report data on program implementation and teacher feedback about why JUMP Math works, which will be followed by a discussion of implications for policy and practice.
The importance of early number sense is addressed by Nancy C. Jordan (University of Delaware) and Alice Klein (WestEd) in this presentation . Research shows that number sense is malleable and early intervention leads to improved math achievement in school. Moreover, core deficiencies in number sense underlie math difficulties.
In her talk, Nancy Jordan describes the development and validation of the Screener for Early Number Sense (SENS), an assessment tool to help teachers (preK, K, and 1st grade) identify children who may be at-risk for math difficulties and provide targeted instruction on specific number concepts.
Sarah Powell (University of Texas at Austin), focuses on students' proficiency with setting-up
and solving word problems. Research indicates that teaching students to understand the structure of word problems leads to better problem solving (Powell, Berry, & Barnes, 2019), and in this talk, Powell addresses what this looks like.
She demonstrates how she taught elementary students three additive word-problem structures with a combination of explicit modeling, dialogue, gestures, visual representations, and authentic practice opportunities.
She will highlight the word problem attack strategy and teaching students to use equations to represent a word problem's structure.
In this dynamic session, Martha Alibali encourages educators to pay attention to problem structure by focusing on two forms of instructional support: Visual Representations and Teacher Gesture. A lively look at some of the subtleties and nuances of problem solving in mathematics.
In this Symposium session, researchers tackle questions about the when, why, where and how of using manipulatives in the mathematics classroom. In this final presentation, Martha Alibali (University of Wisconsin, Madison) connects threads, raises new questions and summarizes the work of Symposium speakers in a compelling way.
In this Symposium session, researchers tackle questions about the when, why, where and how of using manipulatives in the mathematics classroom. In this presentation, Concordia' Emmanuel Adrien asks the question, "How Does Type of Instruction Influence Children’s Use of Manipulatives?"
In this Symposium session, researchers tackle questions about the when, why, where and how of using manipulatives in the mathematics classroom. In this presentation, University of Wisconsin's (Madison) Andrea Donovan presents her research, "Concrete Connections: Testing the Effects of Differing Instructional Methods on Children’s Ability to Connect Concrete Objects and Abstract Symbols During Math Learning".
In this Symposium session, researchers tackle questions about the when, why, where and how of using manipulatives in the mathematics classroom. In this presentation, Concordia University's Anne Lafay speaks about her research, "The Effects of Detachability and Countability of Manipulatives on Second-Graders’ Number Knowledge".
Camilla Gilmore and Victoria Simms have been conducting research on the relationship between math cognition and preterm birth. Their work has resulted in the development of a website for educators: Preterm Birth Information for Education Professionals which can be found at http://pretermbirth.info
Celia Goffin and Moriah Sokolowski are both part of Daniel Ansari's Numerical Cognition Lab at Western University. They joined us today from the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference in Ottawa, Canada.
Nancy Jordan is the current chair of the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Board. voicEd Radio caught up with Nancy for a brief chat at this year's conference in Ottawa, Canada.