HUD Colloquium Fall 2025 Presents: Dr. Doug Clements

The Human Development Colloquium Series Presents:

From Cognition to Curriculum to Scale: Avoiding Pollution and Dilution

Dr. Doug Clements

Distinguished University Professor 

Kennedy Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning 

Executive Director of the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy 

University of Denver, Colorado

Bio: Douglas H. 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. He has published over 200 refereed research studies, 30 books , 107 chapters, and 300 additional works additional works , and has directed more than 40 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 six national research committees for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering (NASEM, including NRC AND IOM), as well as on the President’s National Mathematics Advisory Panel, and the Common Core State Standards committee (NGA, CCSSO), and is co-author of each of the reports.

Abstract: Most developers and publishers claim that their curricula are based on research, but few explicate their claims. I will briefly assess the state of affairs regarding “research-based curricula” and present a model to mitigate weaknesses in the field, avoiding the pollution and dilution that often plagues efforts, that is based on coordinated interdisciplinary research ranging from cognitive science to curriculum and implementation, to scale-up. Building on a brief introduction to the importance of the domain, I will describe an example in early mathematics.