Douglas Clements
Douglas Clements, formerly a preschool and kindergarten teacher, is Distinguished University Professor, Kennedy Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning, and Executive Director of the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy at the University of Denver. He is considered a major scholar in the field of early childhood mathematics education and educational technology, with relevance to the academy, classroom, and policy arenas. Dr. Clements has published over 166 refereed research studies, 27 books, 100 chapters, and 300 additional works, and has directed more than 38 funded projects. His contributions have led to the development of new mathematics curricula, software, teaching approaches, teacher training initiatives, and models of “scaling up” interventions. Dr. Clements has served on the U.S. President’s National Mathematics Advisory Panel, the Common Core State Standards committee, and the National Research Council’s Committee on Early Mathematics, and is and co-author each of their reports. Additional information can be found at http://du.academia.edu/DouglasClements, http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Douglas_Clements/, and http://portfolio.du.edu/dclemen9.
Contact
Blog posts
Don’t Burn Your Feet: A Shape Learning Game
Read more →Magician’s Tricks: A Magic Game to Help Your Child Learn to Count
Read more →Reimagine Calendar Activities in Early Childhood Classrooms
Read more →Play, Mathematics, and False Dichotomies
Read more →Publications
Best of Both Worlds: Developing an Innovative, Integrated, Intelligent, and Interactive System of Technologies Supporting In-Person and Digital Experiences for Early Mathematics
Authors: Clements, D., Stark Guss, S., Sarama, J. & Daniela Alvarez-Vargas
2024 in Computers in the Schools
Systematic review of learning trajectories in early mathematics
Authors: Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2024 in ZDM - Mathematics Education
Does use of a hypothetical learning progression promote learning of the cardinal-count concept and give-n performance?
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J. & Baroody, A. J.
2024 in Journal of Mathematical Behavior
Longitudinal investigation of early mathematical achievement and classroom strategic diversity: A replication and extension study
Authors: Clements, D., Dong, Y., Day-Hess, C. & Sarama, J.
2024 in Learning and Individual Differences
Is intervention fadeout a scaling artifact?
Authors: Wan, S., Bond, T. N., Lang, K., Clements, D., Sarama, J. & Bailey, D. H.
Examining and developing fourth grade children’s area estimation performance
Authors: Eames, C. L., Barrett, J. E., Cullen, C. J., Rutherford, G., Klanderman, D., Clements, D., Sarama, J. & Van Dine, D. W.
2020 in School Science and Mathematics
Strategy diversity in early mathematics classrooms
Authors: Clements, D., Dumas, D., Dong, Y., Banse, H., Sarama, J. & Day-Hess, C.
2020 in Contemporary Educational Psychology
Efficacy of a learning trajectory approach compared to a teach-to-target approach for addition and subtraction
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Baroody, A. J. & Joswick, C.
2020 in ZDM Mathematics Education
STREAM education at work—No, at play! A toy-making unit
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Brenneman, K., Duke, N. K. & Hemmeter, M. L.
2020 in YC Young Children
Effects on mathematics and executive function of a mathematics and play intervention versus mathematics alone
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Layzer, C., Unlu, F. & Fesler, L.
2020 in Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
STEM for inclusive excellence and equity
Authors: Clements, D., Vinh, M., Lim, C.-I. & Sarama, J.
2020 in Early Education and Development
Is intervention fadeout a scaling artefact?
Authors: Wan, S., Bond, T. N., Lang, K., Clements, D., Sarama, J. & Bailey, D. H.
2021 in Economics of Education Review
Testing a theoretical assumption of a learning-trajectories approach in teaching length measurement to kindergartners
Authors: Sarama, J., Clements, D., Baroody, A. J., Kutaka, T. S., Chernyavskiy, P., Shi, J. & Cong, M.
2021 in AERA Open
Supporting young children’s development of executive function through early mathematics
Authors: Mulcahy, C., Day-Hess, C., Clements, D., Ernst, J., Pan, S., Mazzocco, M. & Sarama, J.
2021 in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Measuring early childhood mathematical cognition: Validating and equating two forms of the research-based early mathematics assessment
Authors: Dong, Y., Clements, D., Day-Hess, C., Sarama, J. & Dumas, D. G.
2021 in Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment
STEM or STEAM or STREAM? Integrated or interdisciplinary?
Authors: Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2021 in Embedding STEAM in Early Childhood Education and Care
Learning and teaching early math: The learning trajectories approach
Authors: Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2021 in Routledge
Comparing the efficacy of early arithmetic instruction based on a learning trajectory and teaching-to-a-target
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Baroody, A. J., Kutaka, T. S., Chernyavskiy, P., Joswick, C., Cong, M. & Joseph, E.
2021 in Journal of Educational Psychology
Young children’s actions on length measure tasks: Strategies and cognitive attributes
Authors: Clements, D., Banse, H., Sarama, J., Tatsuoka, C., Joswick, C., Hudyma, A., Van Dine, D. W. & Tatsuoka, K. K.
2021 in Mathematical Thinking and Learning
Sustainable, scalable professional development in early mathematics: Strategies, evaluation, and tools
Authors: Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2021 in Springer
Science and engineering in preschool through elementary grades: The brilliance of children and the strengths of educators
Authors: Clements, D.
2021 in The National Academies Press
Subitizing: What is it? Why teach it?
Authors: Clements, D.
2021 in Teaching Children Mathematics
Supporting executive function development and early mathematics through a geometry activity
Authors: Banse, H., Clements, D., Sarama, J., Day-Hess, C. & Joswick, C.
2021 in Young Children
High-quality early math: Learning and teaching with trajectories and technologies
Authors: Stark Guss, S., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2022 in Handbook of Research on Innovative Approaches to Early Childhood Development and School Readiness
Evaluating a model for developing cognitively diagnostic adaptive assessments: The case of young children’s length measurement
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Tatsuoka, C., Banse, H. & Tatsuoka, K.K.
2022 in Journal of Research in Childhood Education
Challenging but achievable math for young children: Learning and teaching with learning trajectories.
Authors: Clements, D., Stark Guss, S. & Sarama, J.
2022 in Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12
Lessons learned from 10 experiments that tested the efficacy and assumptions of hypothetical learning trajectories
Authors: Baroody, A., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2022 in Education Sciences
What is developmentally appropriate teaching?
Authors: Clements, D., Fuson, K. C. & Sarama, J.
2017 in National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
The research-based balance in early childhood mathematics: A response to Common Core criticisms
Authors: Clements, D.
2017
The DREME Network: Research and interventions in early childhood mathematics
Authors: Day-Hess, C. & Clements, D.
2017 in Advances in Child Development and Behavior
STEM starts early: Grounding science, technology, engineering, and math education in early childhood
Authors: McClure, E. R., Guernsey, L., Clements, D., Bales, S. N., Nichols, J., Kendall-Taylor, N. & Levine, M. H.
2017
Developing workable attributes for psychometric models based on the Q-Matrix
Authors: Tatsuoka, C., Clements, D., Sarama, J., Izsák, A., Orrill, C. H., de la Torre, J., Khasanova, E. & Tatsuoka, K. K.
2016
Positioning mathematics education researchers to influence storylines
Authors: Herbel-Eisenmann, B. A., Sinclair, N., Chval, K. B., Wanko, J. J., Clements, D., Civil, M. & Wilkerson, T. L.
2016
Improving mathematics learning of kindergarten students through computer-assisted instruction
Authors: Foster, M. E., Anthony, J. L., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2016
Which preschool mathematics competencies are most predictive of fifth grade achievement?
Authors: Nguyen, T., Watts, T. W., Duncan, G. J., Clements, D., Sarama, J., Wolfe, C. B. & Spitler, M. E.
2016
Physical and virtual manipulatives: What is “concrete”?
Authors: Sarama, J.
2016
Connect4Learning: The Pre-K Curriculum
Authors: Sarama, J.
2016
Making early math education work for all children
Authors: Fuson, K. C., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2015
Professional development in early mathematics: Effects of an intervention based on learning trajectories on teachers’ practices
Authors: Sarama, J., Clements, D., Wolfe, C. B. & Spitler, M. E.
2016
Learning executive function and early mathematics: Directions of causal relations
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J. & Germeroth, C.
2016
Does early mathematics intervention change the processes underlying children’s learning?
Authors: Watts, T. W., Clements, D., Sarama, J., Wolfe, C. B., Spitler, M. E. & Bailey, D. H
2017
PK–3: What does it mean for instruction?
Authors: Stipek, D.
2017
Preschool mathematics intervention can significantly improve student learning trajectories through elementary school
Authors: Dumas, D., McNeish, D., Sarama, J. & Clements, D.
2019 in AERA Open
Teaching and learning Geometry: Early foundations
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Swaminathan, S., Weber, D. & Trawick-Smith, J.
2018 in Quadrante
Evaluating the efficacy of a learning trajectory for early shape composition
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Baroody, A. J., Joswick, C. & Wolfe, C. B.
2019 in American Educational Research Journal
Executive function and early mathematical learning difficulties
Authors: Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2019 in International Handbook of Mathematical Learning Difficulties
Size sequencing: Increasingly important for theory, research, and practice
Authors: Clements, D.
2019 in Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development
Examining and developing fourth grade children’s area estimation performance
Authors: Eames, C. L., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2020 in School Science and Mathematics
Play it high, play it low: Examining the reliability and validity of a new observation tool to assess children’s make-believe play
Authors: Germeroth, C., Bodrova, E., Day-Hess, C., Barker, J., Sarama, J., Clements, D. & Layzer, C.
2019 in American Journal of Play
Double impact: Mathematics and executive function
Authors: Joswick, C., Clements, D., Sarama, J., Banse, H. & Day-Hess, C.
2019 in Quadrante
Learning trajectories in early mathematics education
Authors: Sarama, J. & Clements, D.
2019 in Sense Publishers
The Building Blocks and TRIAD projects
Authors: Sarama, J. & Clements, D.
2019 in Teachers College Press
No more math fact frenzy
Authors: Davenport, L. R., Henry, C. S., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2019 in Heinemann
Critiques of the common core in early math: A research-based response
Authors: Clements, D., Fuson, K. C. & Sarama, J.
2019 in Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
Promoting positive transitions through coherent instruction, assessment, and professional development: The TRIAD scale-up model
Authors: Sarama, J. & Clements, D.
2018 in Springer
From cognition to curriculum to scale
Authors: Sarama, J.
2019 in Academic Press (an Elsevier imprint)
Subitizing: The neglected quantifier
Authors: Clements, D.
2019 in Springer
Executive function and early mathematical learning difficulties
Authors: Sarama, J. & Clements, D.
2019 in Sense Publishers
Teaching and learning mathematics in early childhood programs
Authors: Baroody, A. J., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2019 in Wiley Blackwell Publishing
Risky business: Correlation and causation in longitudinal studies of skill development
Authors: Bailey, D. H., Duncan, G. J., Watts, T. W., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2018 in American Psychologist
Myths of early math
Authors: Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2018 in Education Sciences
Asset-based approaches to equitable mathematics education research and practice
Authors: Celedòn-Pattichis, S., Peters, S. A., Borden, L. L., Males, J. R., Pape, S. J., Chapman, O., Clements, D. & Leonard, J.
2018 in Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
Do high quality kindergarten and first grade classrooms mitigate preschool fadeout?
Authors: Jenkins, J. M., Watts, T. W., Magnuson, K. A., Gershoof, E., Clements, D., Sarama, J. & Duncan, G. J.
2018 in Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness
Teaching and learning geometry: Early foundations
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Swaminathan, S., Weber, D. & Trawick-Smith, J.
2018 in Quadrante
Hispanic dual language learning kindergarten students response to a numeracy intervention: A randomized control trial
Authors: Foster, M. E., Anthony, J. L., Clements, D., Sarama, J. & Williams, J. J.
2018 in Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Broadening the horizons of research on discovery-based learning
Authors: Clements, D. & Joswick, C.
2018 in Instructional Science
What is the long-run impact of learning mathematics during preschool?
Authors: Watts, T. W., Duncan, G. J., Clements, D. & Sarama, J.
2018 in Child Development
Evaluation of three interventions teaching area measurement as spatial structuring to young children
Authors: Clements, D., Sarama, J., Barrett, J. E., Van Dine, D. W., Cullen, C., Hudyma, A., Dolgin, R., Cullen, A. L. & Eames, C. L.
2018 in Journal of Mathematical Behavior
Designing, scaling up, and evaluating comprehensive professional development based on learning trajectories
Authors: Sarama, J. & Clements, D.
2017 in Teachers College Press
Interventions in early mathematics: Avoiding pollution and dilution
Authors: Sarama, J. & Clements, D.
2017 in Elsevier
The development of early childhood mathematics education
Authors: Sarama, J.
2017 in Advances in Child Development and Behavior
What is developmentally appropriate math?
Authors: Clements, D.
2015
Teaching moves and preschoolers’ arithmetical accuracy
Authors: Banse, H.
2020 in The Journal of Educational Research