Belinda Blevins-Knabe, Ph.D., Professor

Dr. Blevins-Knabe received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Her training is in developmental psychology and her research interests are in the mathematical development of young children. In addition to work on transitivity, seriation, addition, and subtraction, she has examined the relationship between the home environment and young children’s mathematical development. Parental values, attitudes, and behaviors all influence how well children perform on assessments of mathematics. For more information about Dr. Blevins-Knabe, watch this video.

To contact her, please email blblevins@ualr.edu.

Courses Instructed

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Adolescent Psychology

Projects

Dr. Blevins-Knabe is currently involved in the study of early number strategies that preschoolers use, the parental ideas, and the influence on early childhood learning of mathematical concepts. Currently, she is examining the influence of social emotional, and receptive language skills on children’s mathematical performance. In addition, she examines the relationships between literacy and mathematical activities in the home, parents’ reported enjoyment of reading and math activities, parents’ knowledge about their own child’s mathematical behaviors, and children’s mathematical performance. In a low-income sample, she and her colleagues have found that parenting behaviors (as measured by the HOME) and material attitudes and beliefs have a direct effect on children’s mathematical performance and also mediate the effects of material achievement in math. For more information about Dr. Blevins-Knabe’s research, collaborations, and publications, visit ResearchGate.

Publications

Austin, A., Blevins-Knabe, B., Ota, C., Rowe, T., & Lindauer, S. (2010). Mediators of preschoolers’ early mathematics concepts. Early Child Development and Care, https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2010.520711.

Blevins-Knabe, B., (2008, June 25). Fostering early numeracy at home. In Encyclopedia of language and literacy development.  Retrieved October 18, 2008, from http://www.literacyencyclopedia.ca

Blevins-Knabe, B., Whiteside-Mansell, L., & Selig, J. (Summer 2007)

Parenting and Mathematical Development, Academic Exchange Quarterly, 11 (2), 76-80.