Mathematical Learning and Cognition in Early Childhood

Katherine M. Robinson, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Psychology at Campion College at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan. She received her B.A. from Bishop’s University and M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on cognitive development with special emphases on the development of conceptual and procedural knowledge in arithmetic in both children and adults.Helena P. Osana, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Education and Research Chair in Mathematical Cognition and Instruction at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. She received her B.Sc. from McGill University, M.A. from the University of British Columbia, and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She conducts research on the instructional factors that impact children’s mathematical thinking. Her recent work centres on the impacts of external knowledge representations, including manipulatives, on children’s learning and transfer in elementary mathematics. She is a member of the Center for Research in Human Development at Concordia University.Donna Kotsopoulos, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science at Huron University (Western University), London, Canada. She received her B.A. and B.Ed. at York University, and her M.Ed. and Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario. Her research focuses on early mathematical cognition and learning, and organizational behaviour. Her research has resulted in social innovation with the LittleCounters® program – a community and early child care center, play-based early numeracy program. She is the Director of the Mathematical Brains Laboratory and she is the co-Director of the Mathematics Knowledge Network (Ministry of Education, Ontario).

• Section I: Infancy and Preschool.- Chapter 1. Early Mathematical Minds: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Early Mathematical Learning and Cognition.- Chapter 2. The “Girl Crisis”: The Relationship between Early Gender Differences and Future Mathematical Learning and Participation.- Chapter 3. Spatial Learning and Play with Technology: How Parental Spatial Talk Differs Across Contexts.- Chapter 4. Supporting Mathematics Play in Home Environments: A Feasibility Examination of a Take-Home Bag Intervention.- Section II: The Beginnings of Formal Schooling.- Chapter 5. Early Identification of, and Interventions for, Kindergarten Students at Risk for Mathematics Difficulties.- Chapter 6. Mathematical or Computational Thinking: An Early Years Perspective.- Chapter 7. Supporting Meaningful Use of Manipulative in Kindergarten: The Role of Dual Representation in Early Mathematics.- Chapter 8. Kindergarteners and First-Graders’ Development of Numbers Representing Length and Area: Stories on Measurement.- Chapter 9. Young Children’s Patterning Competencies and Mathematical Development: A Review.- Section III: The Elementary School Years.- Chapter 10. Arithmetic Concepts in the Early School Years.- Chapter 11. An Integrated Approach to Mathematics and Language Theory and Pedagogy.- Chapter 12. Schema Based Instruction: Supporting Children with Learning Difficulties and Intellectual Disabilities.- Chapter 13. Tablets as Elementary Mathematics Education Tools: Are They Effective and Why.- Chapter 14. Early Understanding of Fractions via Early Understanding of Proportion and Division.

“This book may be recommended for education or early childhood researchers looking to broaden their understanding of early mathematical thinking, or perhaps as a text for an interdisciplinary course on early mathematical development. The emphasis on school contexts may make the text also useful for K-5 teachers or mathematics coaches, though the breadth of the articles would likely limit immediate use in the classroom.” (Cristina Runnalls, MAA Reviews, July 22, 2019)