Susan Levine

Susan Levine, Ph.D., is the Rebecca Anne Boylan Professor of Education and Society in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago. She has an extensive track record of research in the area of mathematical development. Dr. Levine’s research focuses on individual variations in the development of early mathematical thinking, including numerical and spatial aspects of math, and how variations in home and school “math talk” and play activities affect children’s learning in this domain.  Current research projects investigate the particular aspects of adult number talk that are effective in scaffolding numerical thinking. She is also examining how variations in exposure to spatial language and engagement in spatial activities such as puzzle and block play affect children’s spatial thinking and math achievement.   She is also interest in the connections between mathematics achievement and executive functions and how best to support math learning in children whose levels of executive functioning vary. In addition to studying the cognitive and linguistic underpinnings of math achievement, she is studying the role of socio-emotional factors in children’s math learning and how we can intervene to disrupt the negative effects of parent and teacher math anxiety on children’s math identities and math learning.  She serves as the co-PI of the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, an NSF Science of Learning Center and the PI of the NSF Science of Learning Collaborative Network: A Research-Practice Collaboration to Improve Math Learning in Young Children.