Michelle Hurst

University of Chicago

Michelle Hurst is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago and works on both the Parent and Early Caregiver Engagement project and the Making More of Math project. She graduated from Boston College with a PhD in developmental psychology, and before that earned a bachelor of science in mathematics from McMaster University, Canada. In general, Michelle is interested in how children’s early developing intuitions are related to their formal math learning in school. To address this question, much of Michelle’s research has focused on children’s proportional learning, including ratio, probability, and formal fractions and decimals. She is interested in children’s early intuitions about these concepts and how they may interact with other domains of math, including number, counting, and measurement. In addition, Michelle is interested in how other skills and abilities outside of math, including language, analogical reasoning, and executive function, are related to children’s developing informal and formal math abilities.