Collaborative Research: A Multi-Lab Investigation of the Conceptual Foundations of Early Number Development

合作研究：早期数字发展概念基础的多实验室调查

• 批准号: 2201968
• 负责人: Melissa Libertus
• 金额: $ 4.23万
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-15 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201968&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Multi; Lab; Investigation

Preschool numeracy is a crucial foundation for STEM learning and long-term academic success. Previous research suggests that the development of strong numeracy skills depends on a combination of perceptual, cognitive, and language skills. However, most past studies have focused on a relatively small and homogeneous groups of children in US urban areas. As a result, current understanding of early numeracy may notgeneralize to diverse groups of learners. It is likely that home language background, socio-economic status, and geographic and cross-cultural differences could also influence numeracy development. To address this, and to probe what factors drive early numeracy in a representative sample, this first-of-its-kind project investigates how toddlers and preschool-aged children perceive, reason, and talk about numbers in a massive multi-lab collaboration involving over 130 research sites worldwide.To investigate early numeracy, this collaborative project includes two foundational studies. The first study focuses on how 2- to 5-year-old children perceive quantity, learn number words, and how to accurately count groups of objects. The study examines variability in how children learn about number and quantity while exploring the underlying perceptual, cognitive and linguistic mechanisms that drive their learning. The second foundational study focuses on toddler’s abilities to keep track of small groups of objects, which researchers have argued may play an especially important role in early numerical learning. This study examines variability across larger and more diverse groups of participants than previously studied. The study also asks whether limits to children’s object tracking abilities change when they begin to learn number words. In addition to these foundational studies, the project supports the creation of multiple exploratory studies, allowing for novel, ground-breaking collaborations between researchers worldwide. These exploratory studies examine how numerical abilities are related to diverse phenomena including but not limited to social cognition, linguistic diversity, cognitive abilities like executive function, and cross-cultural differences in mathematics education and attitudes. Collectively, these studies will test over 3000 children in 28 US states and 27 countries, using a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal behavioral assessments. Final data will be shared with the broader scientific community, and will be presented on a website in simplified form to make findings accessible to the broader public.This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

学龄前儿童的算术能力是STEM学习和长期学术成功的重要基础。以前的研究表明，强大的算术技能的发展依赖于感知、认知和语言技能的结合。然而，过去的大多数研究都集中在美国城市地区相对较小和同质的儿童群体上。因此，目前对早期算术的理解可能不适用于不同的学习者群体。很可能，母语背景、社会经济地位以及地理和跨文化差异也会影响算术发展。为了解决这一问题，并探索是什么因素推动了具有代表性的样本中的早期算术能力，这个首个此类项目调查了蹒跚学步的儿童和学龄前儿童是如何感知、推理和谈论数字的，这个大规模的多实验室合作项目涉及全球130多个研究地点。为了研究早期算术能力，这个合作项目包括两个基础研究。第一个研究集中在2-5岁儿童如何感知数量，学习数字词，以及如何准确地数出物体组。这项研究考察了儿童在学习数字和数量方面的可变性，同时探索了驱动他们学习的潜在的感知、认知和语言机制。第二项基础性研究关注的是幼儿追踪一小群物体的能力，研究人员认为，这可能在早期的数字学习中扮演着特别重要的角色。这项研究考察了比之前研究的更多、更多样化的参与者群体的可变性。这项研究还询问，当孩子们开始学习数字单词时，他们物体追踪能力的极限是否会改变。除了这些基础研究外，该项目还支持创建多个探索性研究，使世界各地的研究人员能够进行新颖、开创性的合作。这些探索性研究考察了数字能力如何与不同的现象相关，包括但不限于社会认知、语言多样性、执行功能等认知能力，以及数学教育和态度的跨文化差异。总而言之，这些研究将使用横断面和纵向行为评估相结合的方法，对美国28个州和27个国家的3000多名儿童进行测试。最终数据将与更广泛的科学界共享，并将以简化的形式呈现在网站上，以使更广泛的公众了解研究结果。该项目由EHR核心研究(ECR)计划资助，该计划支持推进STEM学习和学习环境的基础研究、扩大对STEM的参与以及STEM劳动力发展的工作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。