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Bethany Rittle-Johnson

Professor, Psychology & Human Development
Anita S. and Antonio M. Gotto Chair in Child Development

Professor Rittle-Johnson's research focuses on understanding how knowledge change occurs. Her specific interests are in how children learn problem-solving procedures and key concepts in mathematics. For example, what roles do comparison or generating explanations have in promoting learning of concepts and procedures? What early math knowledge supports later math knowledge? This research bridges between psychological theory and educational practice, and Professor Rittle-Johnson also collaborates with teachers and educational researchers to apply and test her research in educational settings.


She describes her research interests and what led to them in a 2015 interview here

Current Research described on her lab website here

Lab Website

Representative Publications

*student (graduate or undergraduate); ^post-doc

2024

Adler, R.*, Rittle-Johnson, B., Hickendorff, M., & Durkin, K. (2024). A Longitudinal Examination of the Relations Between Motivation, Math Achievement, and STEM Career Aspirations Among Black Students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2023.102240

Adler, R.*, Xu. D.* & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2024). What Counts as STEM, and Does it Matter. British Journal of Educational Psychology. doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12639

Ban, J.*, Msall, C.,* Douglas, A.^, Rittle-Johnson, B., Laski, E. (2024). Knowing What They Know: Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge of Math Skills Preschoolers’ Know and its Relation to Their Instruction. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 246, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105996.

Douglas, A. -A.^, Msall, C.*, Logan, F*., & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2024). The Impact of Light-Touch Information-Based Interventions on the Home Math Environment. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2024.101682

Douglas, A.-A.*, Rittle-Johnson, B., Adler, R.*, Mendez, A.*, Haymond, C., Brandon, J.*, & Durkin, K. (2024). “He’s probably the only teacher I’ve actually learned from”: Marginalized Students’ Experiences and Views of High School Mathematics. American Educational Research Journal. doi.org/10.3102/00028312241266242

Douglas^, A.-A., & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2024). Parental early math support: The role of parental knowledge about early math development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 66, 124–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.10.003

Rittle-Johnson, B. (2024). Encouraging Students to Explain Their Ideas When Learning Mathematics: A Psychological Perspective. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 76, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101192

Rittle-Johnson, B. Adler, R.* & Durkin, K. (2024). Predicting marginalized students’ mathematics achievement in high school. Journal of Cognition and Development, 25:5. 732-753. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2024.2384547 

Select recent:

Rittle-Johnson, B, Farran, D. & Durkin, K. (2021). Marginalized students’ perspectives on instructional strategies in middle-school mathematics classrooms. Journal of Experimental Education, 89, 569-586, doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2020.1728513

Rittle-Johnson, B., Star, J. R., & Durkin, K. (2020). How can cognitive science research help improve education? The case of comparing multiple strategies to improve mathematics learning and teaching. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29, 599–609. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420969365

Zippert, E.^, Douglas, A.,* & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2020). Finding patterns in objects and numbers: Repeating patterning in pre-K predicts kindergarten mathematics knowledge. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 200,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104965

 

Honors

  • 2024 Sylvia Scribner Award for scholarly work that has significantly influenced thinking and research in the field of learning and instruction. Division C of American Educational Research Association, Spring 2024.
  • Visiting Scientist Fellowship from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, Spring 2024
  • Ranked as the second most prolific author in mathematics education research (Akın & Güzeller (2022). The 500 Most-influential Articles in Mathematics Education Research for The Period 1970-2020: A Bibliometric Citation Analysis. Journal of History School, 59. 2241-2270.
  • Fellow, Association for Psychological Science, 2020
  • Anita S. and Antonio M. Gotto Chair in Child Developmet