Donna Kotsopoulos – författare

This book explores mathematical learning and cognition in early childhood from interdisciplinary perspectives, including developmental psychology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and education. It examines how infants and young children develop numerical and mathematical skills, why some children struggle to acquire basic abilities, and how parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators can promote early mathematical development. The first section of the book focuses on infancy and toddlerhood with a particular emphasis on the home environment and how parents can foster early mathematical skills to prepare their children for formal schooling. The second section examines topics in preschool and kindergarten, such as the development of counting procedures and principles, the use of mathematics manipulatives in instruction, and the impacts of early intervention. The final part of the book focuses on particular instructional approaches in the elementary school years, such as different additive concepts, schema-based instruction, and methods of division. Chapters analyze the ways children learn to think about, work with, and master the language of mathematical concepts, as well as provide effective approaches to screening and intervention.

Included among the topics:

Mathematical Learning and Cognition in Early Childhood is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students, and professionals in infancy and early childhood development, child and school psychology, neuroscience, mathematics education, educational psychology, and social work.

This book focuses on elementary and middle school children’s understanding of mathematics as well as the cognitive aspects involved in the development of mathematical knowledge, skills, and understanding. Children’s success in and understanding of mathematics stem from factors beyond the mathematics curriculum. Researchers are increasingly becoming aware of the necessity to consider a complex set of variables when accounting for large individual differences in mathematics achievement. These chapters contribute to how both researchers and educators can consider the multidimensionality of skills involved in developing mathematical knowledge in the middle school years as well as to how this knowledge can be used to enhance practices in the mathematics classroom. Topics include the cognitive and spatial skills involved in mathematics knowledge, the role of motivation in mathematics learning, the neurological processes and development of children’s mathematics skills, the development ofunderstanding of arithmetic and fraction concepts, the factors relating to children’s word problem success, and techniques to promote mathematics understanding.

This book and its companion, Mathematical Teaching and Learning, take an interdisciplinary perspective to mathematical learning and development in the elementary and middle school years. The authors and perspectives in this book draw from education, neuroscience, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology. The book will be relevant to scholars/educators in the field of mathematics education and also those in childhood development and cognition. Each chapter also includes practical tips and implications for parents as well as for educators and researchers.

The use of data to guide action is growing. Even the public uses data to guide everyday decisions! How do we develop data acumen across a broad range of fields and varying levels of expertise? How do we foster the development of effective data translators? This book explores these questions, presenting an interdisciplinary collection of edited contributions across fields such as education, health sciences, natural sciences, politics, economics, business and management studies, social sciences, and humanities. Authors illustrate how to use data within a discipline, including visualization and analysis, translating and communicating results, and pedagogical considerations. This book is of interest to scholars and anyone looking to understand the use of data science across disciplines. It is ideal in a course for non-data science majors exploring how data translation occurs in various contexts and for professionals looking to engage in roles requiring data translation.

This book focusses on teaching and learning in elementary and middle school mathematics and suggests practices for teachers to help children be successful mathematical thinkers. Contributions from diverse theoretical and disciplinary perspectives are explored. Topics include the roles of technology, language, and classroom discussion in mathematics learning, the use of creativity, visuals, and teachers’ physical gestures to enhance problem solving, inclusive educational activities to promote children’s mathematics understanding, how learning in the home can enhance children’s mathematical skills, the application of mathematics learning theories in designing effective teaching tools, and a discussion of how students, teachers, teacher educators, and school boards differentially approach elementary and middle school mathematics.

This book and its companion, Mathematical Cognition and Understanding, take an interdisciplinary perspective to mathematical learning and development in the elementary and middle school years. The authors and perspectives in this book draw from education, neuroscience, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology. The book will be relevant to scholars/educators in the field of mathematics education and also those in childhood development and cognition. Each chapter also includes practical tips and implications for parents as well as for educators and researchers.