More than the sum of its parts: Mathematical cognition in MBE
Toward breakthrough outcomes by building an equity first, inclusive infrastructure
Mathematical proficiency is important for success in school and beyond. In this talk, I share some of my research on the cognitive, neural, and socio-emotional aspects of mathematics learning for those with and without learning difficulties. Specifically, I focus on the processing of numerical symbols and the interrelation of mathematics and reading domains. Through this work, I suggest that mathematical proficiency and its development are best understood with an interdisciplinary approach.
Our nation’s students deserve access to high-quality instruction and tools that support their academic and social emotional development; however we lack the infrastructure to connect rigorous research with real-world educators and developers who can build useful and usable tools that can be adopted at scale. The EF+Math Program is creating a novel infrastructure for rich collaboration between researchers, educators, and developers to build educational tools that are grounded in rigorous research and designed to find solutions to the most persistent educational inequities in math classrooms. Through our model of Inclusive R&D, we draw on the assets of research, practice, and design to bridge the gap between learning science and classroom practice. The goal of EF+Math is to dramatically improve math outcomes for students in grades 3–8, with a focus on Black and Latinx students and students living in poverty, by strengthening executive functioning skills. We hypothesize that building equitable math learning tools requires an equitable process of discovery and development. Inclusive R&D is an equity centered and inclusive process for developing innovative programs, which utilizes a set of principles and practices to center students, educators, families, and communities that are often left out of research methods and of other human-centered design methods. Inclusive R&D brings people together to ideate, build, and iterate together in an ongoing feedback loop that removes the silos between discovery, development, and adoption. In sharing our story, our hope is that you identify opportunities for your own work in bridging research and practice, as we collectively make progress towards breakthrough outcomes for students.
Thanks to support from the National Science Foundation
