Math and Space: Cognitive Complements for Elementary StudentsMaster ClassIn-Person
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2023
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Barnard College
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
In partnership with Barnard College
Children bring many things to the table as they start on their formal education journey. In this class, Koleen McCrink will present an overview of the way that spatial reasoning and mathematical concepts are innately intertwined, as well as discuss how this combination supports early and more-advanced math. Research will be shared on how caregivers and educators can tap into the brain’s natural and intuitive organizational system to support math learning, with a special focus on how general cognitive tendencies, such as attention and memory, interact with specific types of numeracy.
Koleen McCrink
Koleen McCrink is professor and chair of psychology at Barnard College, Columbia University. She received her PhD from Yale University and trained at Harvard University before coming to Barnard. Professor McCrink has done research on core cognitive capacities in populations ranging from chickens to infants to software, with a common theme of discovering how the brain’s combined hardware and software yield a high-functioning and adaptive system. She has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.