Current Research
Early U.S.-China Differences in Math Ability: The Role of Parental Math Support
The aim of this project was to better understand the factors affecting four to five year old's numeracy skills and to provide more information on differences in math skill development and parental influences between U.S. and Chinese children, given the limited research on child math development before formal schooling and on ways parents affect this period of learning. We analyzed the relationships among children's early numeracy skills, parents' math language, the frequency with which children engaged in math activities at home, and parents' knowledge of math development among both U.S. and Chinese families.
Parental Math Anxiety, Home Math Environment and Numeracy
The secondary data analysis examines how parental math anxiety impacts the relationship between home math environment and children’s numeracy among U.S. and Chinese families with four to five year olds. Utilizing self-report inventories and observational measures of math talk during parent-child play sessions, results suggest that math anxiety moderates this relationship, with cultural differences in the frequency of home math activities and math talk.
Exploring Math Curiosity in Elementary Students
This study aims to examine students’ curiosity in a math learning context. Math curiosity is operationalized as voluntary feedback seeking and persistence. Specifically, after solving a math problem, students chose whether to see step-by-step solutions or general explanations to the problem (i.e., feedback seeking) and whether to work on similar problems (persistence). We expect variations in curiosity among school-age students and stronger knowledge among students with stronger curiosity.
For 3rd-4th grade math teachers interested in participating: email codelab@fordham.edu
The Benefits of Decimals, Fractions, and Percentages for Measurement
This study examines people’s preferences for and performances in different rational number notations in metric (i.e., base-10) and imperial (i.e., base-16) measurement contexts. The results revealed that people preferred fractions in non-metric and non-imperial measurement context, also exhibited better performances with decimals in metric measurement context. The results suggested that we benefit from different notations in various measurement contexts
For 5th grade math teachers interested in participating: email codelab@fordham.edu
Understanding Where Errors Come From: A Novel Approach to Measure Conceptual Knowledge of Decimal Arithmetic
This study examines conceptual knowledge of arithmetic procedures with a novel measure, in the domain of decimal addition. In the novel measure, we asked college students to rate the similarities between the errors on two solved decimal addition problems. Success in this task required participants’ understanding of decimal addition procedures, which would be one important aspect of conceptual knowledge of decimal addition. With this new promising measure, we aim to capture individual and developmental differences in decimal addition conceptual knowledge.
For college students interested in earning a $25 gift card for participating: sign up here
Math Strategy Use and Associations with Spatial Skills
This study examines whether spatial skills are associated with strategy preferences in mathematical problem-solving. College students will solve math problems while demonstrating their strategies and complete spatial skills assessments. Our results can help clarify the mechanisms underlying spatial-mathematics relations and inform interventions to improve mathematics achievement.
For college students interested in earning a $25 gift card for participating: sign up here
Publications
Mentee Roles: ✝ Post‑bac, ✲ Undergraduate student ✭ Junior graduate student
Tian, J., Bennett‐Pierre, G., Tavassolie, N., Zhang, X., D'Antonio, E., Sylverne, L., ... & Gunderson, E. A. (2025). A month‐long
parent‐led spatial intervention failed to improve children's spatial skills. Mind, Brain, and Education.
Tian, J., Bennet‑Pierre, G., Tavassolie, N., Newcombe, N., Weinraub, M., Hindman, H. A., Newton, K. J., & Gunderson, E. A.
(2023). A growth mindset message leads parents to choose more challenging informal learning activities. Journal of Intelligence. Special Issue: Spatial Intelligence and Learning.
Applied Developmental Psychology.
gender gap: Childhood spatial skills contribute to women’s under‑representation in STEM majors. Developmental Science, e13302.
in Child Development and Behavior
in number line estimation. Developmental Psychology, 58(1), 138‑151.
the area models. Journal of Cognition and Development, 22(2), 305‑327.
decimal arithmetic. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113(3), 516‑529.
Cognitive Psychology, 123, 101333.
Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 22(7), 1506‑1518.