Advancing early math learning
The Heising-Simons Foundation has awarded an 18-month, $500,000 research and development grant to the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children to advance early math learning for children and families in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.
The award will fund a partnership between the Walsh Center, based at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and Math Talk, a Cambridge, Mass., non-profit organization that specializes in bringing playful early math learning activities into communities. Founded in 2015, Math Talk bases its programs on 40 years of public school math instruction in economically distressed neighborhoods across the United States.
Walsh Center Executive Director Eric Dearing (Caitlin Cunningham)
“We will work with families, pediatricians, recreation and enrichment centers, schools, and businesses to co-design and co-construct what we are calling ‘a family math community ecosystem’ in Roxbury,” said Eric Dearing, executive director of the Walsh Center. “This network will include real-world installations that integrate fun, primary math activities into the neighborhood’s landscape such as walking trails that encourage the search for shapes, measurement games, and counting. Another goal is the development of an app that families can use to locate and explore early math concepts anywhere in their community, including at MBTA stations, the market, laundromat, barbershop, or library, while collecting prizes—such as discounts at neighborhood restaurants—that can be redeemed locally.”
Through this ecosystem, Dearing explained, they hope to improve community awareness of assets and resources that are available for supporting children’s early learning and growth; influence attitudes and beliefs about the importance of early and family math, including the critical role of the community in young children’s math learning; and inspire community-wide engagement in supporting children and families around family math and children’s math learning progress.
“We are thrilled to see the ongoing support for Eric Dearing’s innovative project in early math learning,” said Stanton E.F. Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J., Dean of the Lynch School. “The current project represents pioneering community-wide work in Boston, further developing our relationships with local communities. This adds to the Walsh Center’s impressive portfolio of work.”
“Our goal is to capture lessons that inform not only how children learn math while in their communities but also how other neighborhoods can use lessons learned from our project to grow their own family math ecosystems. ”
According to Math Talk, research indicates that when parents and young children take time to explore, enjoy, and talk about math together, it sets the stage for positive early math experiences and helps young children view themselves as capable math learners.
“By partnering with the community and following their lead on design and development of the project, we center the work around community strengths and aim to contribute to community well-being in holistic ways, supporting not only early math learning but also health, wellness, and community-wide relationships,” said Dearing, a professor in the Lynch School’s Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology Department. “While we’re still designing research strategies to understand and document the structure and impact of this work, our goal is to capture lessons that inform not only how children learn math while in their communities but also how other neighborhoods can use lessons learned from our project to grow their own family math ecosystems.”
Dearing noted that additional community partners include a City Connects elementary school, Boston Medical Center, restaurants and a market in Roxbury’s Nubian Square, and Boston Public Schools’ Countdown to Kindergarten—a team that engages families, educators, and the community in a citywide effort to enhance early learning opportunities and to support students’ successful transition into kindergarten.
“Even if we often don’t realize it, all families and communities are making use of math in their daily lives and all have a rich cultural legacy of math,” added Dearing. “At the same time, many adults in the U.S. report having some level of math anxiety. So, while every parent might want to ensure that their child’s earliest math learning experiences are positive, many may appreciate some support in knowing where to start.”
This project’s funding is the second grant that Dearing and the Lynch School have obtained from the Heising-Simons Foundation, a private, Los Altos, Calif.-based philanthropy established by Elizabeth Simons and Mark Heising in 2007.