Preschool Math Study, 2011-2017

In 2017, we completed a 6-year study of early cognitive skills and their importance to children’s early mathematical development funded by the National Science Foundation. The 197 children were enrolled in Title I, a program for children at risk for school failure. Our goal was to identify the early quantitative knowledge in preschoolers that predicts their readiness to learn formal mathematics when they start elementary school. This study was in collaboration with Dr. Kristy vanMarle in the MU Department of Psychological Sciences.

Research Articles from the Study

  • Geary, D. C., vanMarle, K., Chu, F., Hoard, M. K., & Nugent, L. (2019). Predicting age of becoming a cardinal principle knower. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111, 256–267. doi: 10.1037/edu0000277
  • Chu, F. W., vanMarle, K., Hoard, M. K., Nugent, L., Scofield, J., & Geary, D. C. (2019). Preschool deficits in cardinal knowledge and executive function contribute to longer-term mathematical learning disabilities. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 188, 104668. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104668
  • Geary, D. C., vanMarle, K., Chu, F., Rouder, J., Hoard, M. K., & Nugent, L. (2018). Early conceptual understanding of cardinality predicts superior school-entry number system knowledge. Psychological Science, 29, 191–205. doi: 10.1177/0956797617729817
  • Geary, D. C., & vanMarle, K. (2018). Growth of symbolic number knowledge accelerates after children understand cardinality. Cognition, 177, 69–78. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.04.002
  • vanMarle, K., Chu, F. W., Mou, Y., Seok, J. H., Rouder, J. N., & Geary, D. C. (2018). Attaching meaning to the number words: Contributions of the object tracking and approximate number systems. Developmental Science, 21, e12495. doi: 10.1111/desc.12495
  • Chu, F. W., vanMarle, K., Rouder, J., & Geary, D. C. (2018). Children's early understanding of number predicts their later problem-solving sophistication in addition. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 169, 73–92. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.12.010
  • Geary, D. C., & vanMarle, K. (2016). Young children's core symbolic and non-symbolic quantitative knowledge in the prediction of later mathematics achievement. Developmental Psychology, 52, 2130–2144. doi: 10.1037/dev0000214
  • Moore, A. M., vanMarle, K., & Geary, D. C. (2016). Kindergartners' fluent processing of symbolic numerical magnitude is predicted by their cardinal knowledge and intuitive understanding of arithmetic 2 years earlier. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 150, 31–47. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016.05.003
  • Chu, F. W., vanMarle, K., & Geary, D. C. (2016). Predicting children's reading and mathematics achievement from early quantitative knowledge and domain-general cognitive abilities. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 775. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00775
  • Geary, D. C., & Moore, A. M. (2016). Cognitive and brain systems underlying early mathematical development. In M. Cappelletti and W. Fias (Eds.), Progress in Brain Research: The Mathematical Brain Across the Lifespan (Vol. 227, pp. 75–103). Amsterdam: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2016.03.008
  • Geary, D. C. (2015). Development and measurement of preschoolers' quantitative knowledge. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 17, 1–7. doi: 10.1080/10986065.2015.1016823
  • Chu, F. W., vanMarle, K., & Geary, D. C. (2015). Early numerical foundations of young children's mathematical development. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 132, 205–212. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.01.006
  • vanMarle, K., Chu, F. W., Li, Y., & Geary, D. C. (2014). Acuity of the approximate number system and preschoolers' quantitative development. Developmental Science, 17, 492–505. doi: 10.1111/desc.12143
  • Geary, D. C. (2013). Early foundations for mathematics learning and their relations to learning disabilities. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 23–27. doi: 10.1177/0963721412469398
  • Chu, F. W., vanMarle, K., & Geary, D. C. (2013). Quantitative deficits of preschool children at risk for mathematical learning disability. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 4, 195. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00195