Minding the Brain Do Babies Understand Math? #80
Jan 1, 2025
Rebecca Merkley, a faculty member in Carleton's Department of Cognitive Science focusing on math cognition and early childhood education, explores how babies grasp early math concepts. Discover how infants already have innate skills related to quantity and sharing. Uncover the link between executive functions like focus and working memory with math learning. The discussion also addresses the impact of math anxiety ignited by parent and teacher interactions, emphasizing the crucial role of everyday experiences in nurturing positive math attitudes in children.
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Math's Cognitive Challenge
- Math is a human invention, requiring cultural transmission.
- We learn math through experience, changing how we think about quantity and related brain circuits.
Innate Sense of Amount
- Children possess an innate sense of amount, noticing differences between large ratios like double or half.
- However, they struggle with more precise quantities, impacting their sharing abilities.
Moral Hypocrisy in Sharing
- Young children may understand fairness but lack the numerical skills to create equal sets.
- This can be misinterpreted as selfishness, as they aspire to share equally but can't execute it.