A somewhat more general goal is to illustrate how psychologists who study children's thinking go about investigating an area, and the varied types of evidence that they collect to shed light on that area. For example, this course examines the evolutionary roots of numerical understanding in animals other than humans, the basic understanding of numbers that infants bring to the world, how the culture in which children grow up influences their mathematics learning, whether the brain is specialized for learning mathematics, and how mathematical ability is related to intelligence and other general abilities.

A third goal of the course is to illustrate how knowledge in an area can be conveyed at varying levels of detail and from varying perspectives. In the beginning of the course, we will read an award winning trade book about mathematical thinking. Trade books summarize findings from research that are written for an audience of educated people who are not necessarily specialists in the area but who are interested in understanding some of the main findings in it. Next we will read several chapters from a governmental report that is aimed at professionals that presumes somewhat more background in the field, but that also is relatively accessible, and a practice guide aimed at teachers, principals, and others who deal with the practical challenges of teaching children mathematics (in this case, fractions). The third part of the course will expose you to a yet more specific level of detail, that of journal articles. These focus on very specific topics and research studies, but provide more in-depth information on the topic than any general book or report to the government could. Many journal articles are very complex and require a lot of background; the ones that we will read have been chosen for being relatively accessible even without extensive background in the field.

There will be 15 sessions of the class. For the first half, I'll lead the discussion and will post questions to the SGD (shared google document) before the relevant class period. We'll discuss the questions in the following class. In the second half of the semester, pairs of you will lead the discussion (a different pair in each class session). Each pair will generate questions for discussion of the reading. It is crucial to post the questions at least a week in advance so that your fellow students can consider them as they read the relevant chapter or article and so they can discuss them reasonably in class. The shared google document will be maintained by my Research Coordinator, Theresa Treasure, whose email address is tt2p@andrew.cmu.edu. You will need to send her your email address so she can add you to the SGD. You will then receive an email notifiying you that you have been added. This email will give instructions on how to access it.

In a class like this, everyone's participation is crucial. Therefore, it is essential that each of you attend every class - I'll want a specific, truthful excuse if you can't attend a class - and that once you're there, you listen to and participate in the discussion. The success of the class will reflect the quality of your participation as much as on anything that I do.

The course will include a midterm and a final. The midterm will consist of 10 essay questions, intended to indicate the depth of understanding that you have gained about each set of readings and surrounding discussions. The questions will come from your and my questions on the readings. I will give you a set of 20 questions before the test, and 10 of these will be on the exam. That way, you will be able to think hard about the most important material and prepare to discuss it on the test. The final will be similar but will include questions from the entire year.

Grading will be as follows:
Class participation: 20%
Quality of your presentations and questions: 20%
Midterm/Final: 30% each

LeFevre, J., Skwarchuk, S., Smith-Chant, B., Fast, L., Kamawar, D., & Bisanz, J. (2009). Home numeracy experiences and children's math performance in the early school years. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 41, 55-66 (LeFevre, et al., 2009).

Ramani, G. & Siegler, R. S. (2008). Promoting broad and stable improvements in low-income children's numerical knowledge through playing number board games. Child Development, 79, 375-394.