MAC Lab

Description:

The Math and Child (MAC) Lab engages in research related to early STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) literacy, involving children, parents, and teachers. Research conducted in MAC Lab centers on understanding best practices for supporting caregivers (both teachers and parents) in enhancing children’s STEM skills.

The current research projects include:

1) analyzing parent-child interaction during a shared-reading activity to understand how parents support young children’s learning at home.

2) investigating the foundations for young children to develop number cognition via Analog Magnitude System (AMS), which allows children to perceptually discriminate groups of objects on the basis of their approximate number, and/or the Object Tracking System (OTS), which allows children to track individual objects as they move through space and are hidden from view.

Students involved in MAC Lab will have opportunities to be trained in early math content and to practice research skills (e.g., reviewing literature, collecting data, coding videos, analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, reporting results). Students interested in this line of research will also be encouraged and supported to develop their own research plans.

Dr. Keting Chen, the Principal Investigator of the MAC lab, will take 1-2 students who are either taking course credits (e.g., independent study) or volunteering. Prior research experience is not required, but students with enthusiasm and a time commitment of at least 10 hours per week are preferred.