Guess What? We're All Born With Mathematical Abilities
Kids who start school behind in math tend to stay behind. But could early predictors in preschool help educators put them on a path to success?
As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, Kristy vanMarle knew she wanted to go to grad school for psychology, but wasn't sure what lab to join. Then, she saw a flyer: Did you know that babies can count?
"I thought, No way. Babies probably can't count, and they certainly don't count the way that we do," she says. But the seed was planted, and vanMarle started down her path of study. The person who made that flyer, Karen Wynn, became her mentor and they have since co-published several studies together.
I spoke with vanMarle, an associate professor at the University of Missouri whose research focuses on, to find out what she's been up to lately. The interview that follows has been edited and condensed.
