[MATHLINK] A math cog book of interest

Mon Sep 30 13:40:34 CST 2024

Dear Fellow MCLS Members,

I had the pleasure of attending my first MCLS meeting in June. It was
gratifying to put faces to the names of people whose work I’d been reading
for the past twenty years and to hear about the emerging lines of inquiry.

Early last year, I sent around a notification about my just-released book, *How
Children Learn Math: The Science of Math Learning in Research and Practice*,
in which my co-authors and I translate the math cognition research findings
from Academish into plain English as a resource for teachers and parents.
The insights that MCLS members’ work provides has been enthusiastically
received by both teachers and parents.

At the MCLS meeting, conversations with faculty and trainees alike
suggested that the book would also be especially useful in cognitive
development and math cognition and learning classrooms, as well as in
research labs as a source of key references, an overview of all or parts of
the field, new research ideas, and a resource for discussions with the
community. Most chapters contain research-compatible activities, so it
would also be especially useful for instructors in teacher prep or math ed
classes and as a handy reference in school settings.

*NOTE:* *The book cites 1,052 studies published, for the most part, by MCLS
members and researchers who preceded them. An additional 658 valuable
studies are listed as a Supplement on the book’s website.*

So for your consideration, here is some information about the content of
each part and chapter:

*Chapter 1* – Discusses the domain-general skills – attention, mental
control, working and long-term memory, language, gesture, analogical
thinking, and pattern-recognition – that set the stage for math learning
and develop along with it.

*Part I* – Headwaters of mathematical intuition

*Chapter 2* – the ANS, or (for lack of a verb) what we call “sizing up,”
young children’s intuitive grasp of quantity.

*Chapter 3* – the prelude to counting of small numbers (1-3), quantitative
language, the idea of zero, the development of precision and abstraction,
and noticing numerosity.

*Part II* – Spatial skills

*Chapter 4* – a description of the various visual-spatial skills found to
be related to math skill.

*Chapter 5* – the complex relations of spatial skill to math, gender, and
SES.

*Part III* – The tools of numeracy

*Chapter 6* – picks up where Chapter 3 left off, with the development of
number words and the counting principles.

*Chapter 7* – fingers!

*Chapter 8* – Arabic digits, base-10 notation, and their ordinal and
cardinal meanings.

*Chapter 9* – numerical relations as revealed and understood on the number
line and in linear measurement.

*Part IV* – Arithmetic

*Chapter 10* – whole-number arithmetic, including the equals sign,
operational strategies, arithmetic facts, and the role of language.

*Chapter 11* – rational numbers and operations, including the meaning of a
rational number; how counting, notation, and language interfere with
understanding; and the potential pedagogical value of the number line.

*Chapter 12* – written story problems, including a discussion of the
challenges of verbal comprehension and reading, complex grammar, the order
in which information is presented, inadequate and irrelevant information,
“key words,” and comparison terms.

*Chapter 13* – early math screening, with discussion of assessing the
support system (for poverty, language deficits, spatial skill deficits) and
early numeracy, as well as the challenges of constructing an optimal
screener.

At the end of each Chapter 2-12, there is a list of home and classroom
activities consistent with the research findings.

Here is what the authors brought to this writing project:

*Nancy Krasa, Ph.D.*, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology at
Ohio State U. and a clinical psychologist specializing in the assessment of
learning difficulties, with a longstanding interest in math learning (math
was her college major). She is the author, with Sara Shunkwiler, of Number
Sense and Number Nonsense: Understanding the Challenges of Learning Math
(Brookes, 2009).

*Karen Tzanetopoulos* is a speech and language pathologist specializing in
the challenges that children with language-related deficits have in
learning math.

*Colleen Maas, Ph.D.*, is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education
and Human Development at the University of Cincinnati, specializing in
early childhood math education.

We hope that the book finds its way not only onto the classroom teacher’s
desk, but into cognitive development and math cognition and learning
classrooms and laboratories, as well as university libraries. It’s
available here on Amazon
<https://www.amazon.com/Children-Learn-Math-Nancy-Krasa/dp/0367744082/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MF9CU6MPS8MK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DpSvp5IOzOMDWXZZ6US-Kf3BEDf0kJGJdupusk44gHS1Re-xrLDM73FB3W5qCT9ruB3s2SWMleQmp8u04byvSDNQg40kXuic14FxSvYpu80VJTcL3bxMDFZWshpI4UYPfiA9C1aRTuJ4TSQXVTLDrNkY0ADRZLdvlnHvEYdCIMXjWjNBgHwE3mBNMZAcStHm4S7Nw8qXbMIiqKnIiNFjM45QCYKnZfGc2UtDagk6DDI.kTmZQ3W04NxpG8xridEyjutkEI8DyITS5bhTP9vsUI4&dib_tag=se&keywords=how+children+learn+math&qid=1727578246&sprefix=how+children+learn+math%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-1>
.

It’s also available here through the publisher
<https://www.routledge.com/How-Children-Learn-Math-The-Science-of-Math-Learning-in-Research-and-Practice/Krasa-Tzanetopoulos-Maas/p/book/9780367744083?srsltid=AfmBOopud40Dex7ePswr9DAbnFlx047pDlOhkwyYoX-zcXltZh3F0zL9>,
where you can request an inspection copy.

Excerpts are accessible at both websites.

Enjoy!

Nancy Krasa

[image: Book cover art.jpg]
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