Associate Professor Robert Reeve

BA(Hons), PhD, MAPsA

Associate Professor, Lecturer

Contact details:

The aim of my research is to identify the cognitive, neurological, socio-cultural and educational bases of children's mathematical reasoning. I am especially interested in identifying different patterns of mathematical understanding and the ways in which these patterns change or remain stable over time. In association with colleagues, I am currently conducting research on:

1. individual differences in preschool children's number, quantity and measurement competencies
2. transitions between informal and formal fractional number understanding
3. the cognitive and neurological bases of dyscalculia in young children
4. the relationships between the development of mathematical, language and general cognitive concepts across the primary-school years,
5. the nature of indigenous children's number and measurement concepts
6. children's mathematical reasoning practices in difference cultural settings
7. the significance of individual differences in children's proportional reasoning
8. using interactive assessment to evaluate children's mathematical learning potential in rational number and algebra
9. the nature of students' analogical reasoning about rational number concepts
10. individual differences in the development of primary-school aged children's addition and subtraction concepts.

Research Interests:

• Developmental Psychology
  • Developmental Behavioural Neuropsychology
  • Developmental Cognitive Psychology
  • Children's Mathematical Development
• Mathematical Cognitive Developmental Laboratory

Professional Associations, Memberships & Awards:

• American Psychological Association (Foreign Associate)
• International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development
• Jean Piaget Society
• Society for Research in Child Development

Recent Funded Research:

Selected Publications in Mathematical Cognitive Development Psychology:

Canobi, K., Reeve, R. A., & Pattison, P. E. (2002). Young children's understanding of addition concepts. Educational Psychology, 22, 1-24.

Canobi, K., Reeve, R. A., & Pattison, P. E. (2003). The conceptual basis of addition problem solving. Developmental Psychology, 39, 521-534.

Reeve, R. A., & Reynolds, F. (2001). Co-constructing mathematical understanding (pp 231-254). In D. Clarke (Eds.), Science and mathematical learning in classrooms . Kluwer.

Reeve, R. A., & Reynolds, F. (2002). Gesture in collaborative mathematics problem-solving. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 20, 447-460.

Webber, L. S., Reeve, R. A., Kershaw, M., & Charlton, J. (2002). Assessing numerical competence in legal contexts. Psychology, Psychiatry and Law, 9, 248-256.

Canobi, K. H., Reeve, R. A., & Pattison, P. E. (1998). The role of conceptual understanding in children's addition problem solving. Developmental Psychology, 34, 882-891.

Reeve, R. A., & Pattison, P. (1996). The referential adequacy of students' analogies of common fractions. Mathematical Cognition. 2, 1-36

Brown, A. L., & Reeve, R. A., (1988). "Bandwidths of competence: The role of supportive contexts in learning and development. In L. Liben (Ed.), Learning and Development: Conflict or congruence ? ( 173-216). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Brown, A. L., Campione, J. C., Reeve, R. A., & Ferrara, R. A. (1992). Interactive learning and individual understanding: The case of mathematics. In L. T. Landsmann (Ed.), Culture, schooling and psychological development . Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum

PhD Students under Supervision in Mathematical Cognitive Development Psychology:

• Rowena Beecham: "Cognitive Bases of Mathematics and Musical Competence"
• Joan Marsh: "Individual Differences in Students' Fraction Analogies"
• Fiona Reynolds: "Individual Differences in Children's Proportional Reasoning"
• Elizabeth Thomas: "Deficits in Basal Ganglia Functioning and Numerical Competencies"

PhD Students under Supervision in Developmental Psychology:

• Adam Hall
• Carla Hayman-White
• Rowena Phillips