Mission, Vision, and Strategic Plan 2025-2030
Mission
The Society’s mission is to advance the interdisciplinary scientific investigation of mathematical cognition and learning across countries, cultures, and communities, to disseminate the resultant knowledge, and to promote its application globally for improving the learning of mathematics and enriching its development.
Vision
The MCLS will become the leading international society that promotes interdisciplinary research on, communication about, and open science practices in the study of mathematics learning and cognition. We will build capacity in the field by expanding the global representation of researchers working in this area, strengthening networking opportunities, and fostering collaborations in ways that benefit all involved. We will attract, engage, and support the next generation of scientists investigating the nature and origins of mathematics learning by ensuring that they have continuing access to training in cutting-edge research methods, mentorship, and professional development. We will cultivate equity and inclusion and increase diversity in all its forms. The MCLS will undertake outreach activities internationally to inform public policy and practice.
Core Values
The core values that inspire our mission are:
● Interdisciplinarity. We encourage interdisciplinary research on mathematical cognition and learning, drawing on the various disciplines constituting the cognitive, neural, developmental, and education sciences. Bring together a variety of research tools, types and levels of analysis, and theoretical perspectives can significantly inform our understanding of mathematics learning across diverse cultures, linguistic communities, and species.
● Diversity. We strongly endorse diversity in all its forms, including but not limited to perspectives, approaches, and representation, along with equity, inclusivity, access, and justice. As a society, we will actively work to engage all partners and elevate the voices of individuals from historically marginalized communities.
● Internationality. We cherish the international vibrancy of our society and recognize the advantages to our membership and the field of having global input to and representation across all levels of this organization in a manner that permeates its scientific, professional development, and outreach activities.
● Delayering. The Society ardently supports the belief that regardless of professional status or disciplinary specialty, everyone deserves equal access to the benefits of membership in this organization, including the unrestricted sharing of scientific ideas and practices. We encourage open interactions among all members.
● Open Science Practices. We enthusiastically sanction open science practices including the sharing of study designs, research protocols, data, and preregistration. Such practices make our members’ work more accessible to our expansive community of researchers and beyond and allow for positive, constructive, and open discourse to advance the field.
● Mentoring. We deeply value the role of mentoring as a powerful tool for transforming the Society, its members, and ultimately, research on mathematical cognition and learning. Through mentorship, we lift each other up, empower the next generation of researchers, and foster collaborations between today’s researchers and those of tomorrow.
Implementation Plan (under construction)
Putting our core values into practice:
• Establish broad and enduring goals
• Identify specific objectives aligned with goals
• Devise actions steps for achieving goals and objectives
• Measure progress toward attaining targeted objectives
A PDF version of our 2025-2030 Strategic Plan is available here.
