BC's Katherine McNeill named to Massachusetts Science Educators Hall of Fame - Boston College

As the summer drew to a close, aerial surveyors with the New England Aquarium saw more than 2,000 animals across 15 different marine species in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, southeast of Cape Cod. Among that vast diversity, the team spotted Chilean devil rays (Mobula tarapacana). This ethereal fish is “one of the ocean’s best-kept secrets,” according to the aquarium. “We rarely see Chilean devil rays on our aerial surveys,” Katherine McKenna, a researcher in the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, tells Popular Science. McKenna was one of the observers on the team that saw the Chilean devil rays from above.

The science of reading boom has created a groundswell of interest in whether there’s an analog for math. One of the more interesting thinkers on this count is Daniel Ansari, a professor of psychology and education at Western University in Ontario, where he directs the Numerical Cognition Laboratory. Daniel’s research focuses on how children develop mathematical and numerical skills, and he thinks there’s a lot of popular confusion regarding the “science of math.” I reached out to hear what he thinks we’re getting right and wrong. Here’s what he had to say.—RickRick: You study how young children learn math. How’d you get into that? Daniel: It happened rather accidentally. When applying to Ph. D. programs in psychology, I came across a position that involved investigating the numerical abilities of children with Williams syndrome, a rare genetic developmental disorder. The relationship between the two sounded interesting, so I applied and was accepted. Rick: There’s been much recent attention to the science of reading. Is there an analogous science of math? Daniel: Yes, there is.