Dept of Mathematics Education seminar: 15 May 2024

Link to view on Streamyard

40 mins Presentation + 20 mins Q&A: Dr Dominic Petronzi

Academic Sphere to Public Domain: How Storybooks can Bridge the Gap

(University of Derby) [D.Petronzi@derby.ac.uk]

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) produce a wealth of knowledge through research engagement. While key findings may be shared through academic journals or conferences, information is often constrained within an academic sphere and so may have little impact on the day-to-day lives of stakeholders such as children, young people, parents, and teachers. Recommendations based on empirical works are frequently put forward for primary care providers but typically without clear guidance or resources on how to implement them. As a result, it can be challenging to know the best course of action in approaching a range of increasingly complex issues, and our proposed talk will present the development and purpose of a research-informed series of children’s books to address this issue. We have written a series of research-informed children’s books surrounding a range of key issues (e.g., the importance of nature, healthy eating/eating disorders, maths anxiety) where we gathered academic information and theory and broke it down into an accessible and directly applicable format. Through this, we aimed to bring about knowledge and information for children as well as their teachers and parents/carers, also working in collaboration with external partners. This talk will emphasise the need for higher education to be a force for a positive impact on a national and international scale. Researchers should consider alternative outputs and approaches for their key research findings, that are suitable to the needs of the audience it should impact.

40 mins Presentation + 20 mins Q&A: Dr Elise Klein

Connecting numbers – Neuro-cognitive architecture of numerical processing

(CNRS, LaPsyDÉ, Université Paris Cité) [elise.klein@parisdescartes.fr]

Abstract

There is wide agreement that numerical cognition is subserved by two different basic processes: numerical magnitude processing and verbally mediated arithmetic fact retrieval. Both processes interact with each other but can be selectively impaired. Different from previous numerical cognition models, the Two-Network Framework (TNF) accounts for the multimodular and distributed processing within the human brain by considering not only the underlying gray matter areas of these processes, but also the white matter pathways connecting them. The model suggests that numerical cognition is subserved by a close reciprocal interplay of two distributed and anatomically largely segregated networks for magnitude processing and arithmetic fact retrieval. However, the assumptions are primarily based on correlative data (fMRI/DTI). In a first step, the model’s propositions on arithmetic fact learning and retrieval will be evaluated against a series of neuroimaging intervention studies. The causality of the assumed structure-function relationships will be put to test against a series of lesion studies in sizeable patient groups with acute and chronic stroke. In a second step, a hypothetical tentative classification schema of phenomenological subtypes of developmental dyscalculia and their underlying neural origin is proposed based on the TNF.