About us
The Centre for Mathematical Cognition (CMC) at Loughborough University is a world-leading centre for educationally relevant research on mathematical thinking and learning.
Launched in 2020 with £16.4m of funding from Research England and the Economic and Social Research Council, the Centre brings together a vibrant group of researchers who harness insights from basic scientific research to understanding how people learn mathematics, and how this can be facilitated.
Mathematics is essential, both as an intellectual discipline in its own right, and for providing the underpinning language for science, engineering and, increasingly, the social and medical sciences. Mathematics also provides individual citizens with necessary skills at virtually all levels of employment. High levels of numeracy are associated with enhanced employment outcomes for individuals and with increased economic growth: the annual cost to the UK economy of poor mathematics skills is estimated to be £25bn.
High-performing education systems emphasise evidence-informed teaching, and encourage teachers to use and take part in educational research. Given this, the UK government recognises that putting research evidence at the centre of both policy and practice is key to improving education. This vision is shared by the teaching profession: the Chartered College of Teaching lists supporting teachers to work with the latest evidence and research as its primary goal. The CMC meets this challenge in the context of mathematics. By designing and evaluating evidence-based practices in teaching and learning, we will help to meet the increasing demand for a mathematically skilled workforce.
Distinctively, we aim to bridge the gap between basic research on mathematical cognition and more applied work that involves designing and evaluating research-informed pedagogical materials. Consult the research page of our website for more details of our work.
The CMC hosts the ESRC Centre for Early Mathematics Learning (CEML), a large-scale research centre which focuses on children’s early mathematical learning. CEML studies mathematics development in the early years and Key Stage 1. We conduct interdisciplinary research studies on mathematical learning, and work closely with educators to design educational activities and translate research into practice. CEML launched in June 2022 and is a collaboration between the CMC and eight partner institutions, the University of Bristol, University of Edinburgh, University College London, University of Nottingham, University of Oxford, University of York, Ulster University and London School of Economics.