Easy as 1, 2, 3? Uncovering the challenges of early mathematics

So, it’s unsurprising that mathematics skills are related to future employment, well-being and quality of life. However, many adults don’t have the mathematics skills they need to succeed.

Difficulties with mathematics emerge early, with a quarter of children leaving primary school without a solid foundation of skills and understanding. By the age of six or seven, many children have already begun to develop negative feelings about mathematics.

But why do so many children struggle with learning mathematics? The early stages of learning mathematics involve a remarkable process whereby children make sense of patterns in language and their environment to develop an abstract concept of number.

In her lecture, Professor Gilmore will show how children achieve this by bringing together a range of skills. She will also highlight how games and playful activities can help children to see the mathematics in the world around them – and embark on a positive journey of mathematics education.

Professor Camilla Gilmore is a developmental psychologist. She is interested in understanding how we think about mathematical ideas and what this means for mathematics education.

She completed her doctorate in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford before working as Postdoctoral Researcher at Harvard University. She then spent five years as a Research Fellow in the Learning Sciences Research Institute at The University of Nottingham before joining 含羞草视频 in 2011.

Before being promoted to Professor in 2020, Camilla held a Research Fellowship from the British Academy and a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship from the Royal Society. She is now Co-director of the Centre for Mathematical Cognition – funded by Research England – and leads the ESRC-funded Centre for Early Mathematics Learning.

A Chartered Psychologist, she has received awards from the Experimental Psychology Society, the British Psychological Society and the British Society for Research in Learning Mathematics.

Her research explores how we acquire mathematics skills – with a particular focus on early years development. Her aim is to identify cognitive and environmental factors that influence mathematics learning and to understand why some children have difficulties.