Caroline Hornburg

Caroline Hornburg, Assistant Professor

_{Department of Human Development and Family Science

401-A Wallace Hall

295 West Campus Drive

Blacksburg, VA 24061

540-231-2664 | chornburg@vt.edu}

Caroline Hornburg is an assistant professor of Human Development and Family Science at Virginia Tech, and director of the Learning and Development Lab. Dr. Hornburg also is affiliate faculty in the Department of Psychology and the School of Education.

Dr. Hornburg's work focuses on children’s understanding of core mathematical skills within early childhood and middle childhood that provide the foundation for later learning. Specifically, her main lines of research are (1) What is the impact of prior knowledge on later learning? and (2) How can the learning environment be optimized to improve children’s understanding of key concepts? Her current research projects focus on children's math identity, problem-solving skills, EF skills, math vocabulary, and the home math environment.

Accepting new grad students: Yes
In need of students for research team: Yes
Name of research team: Learning and Development Lab

Principal Areas of Expertise

Cognitive Development
Learning Sciences
Mathematical Cognition
Educational Psychology
Child Development

Future Research Directions

In the future, Dr. Hornburg plans to pursue additional grant funding that allows for examination of parents' support of their children's math learning and children's mathematical and EF skills longitudinally, including during the transition from preschool to Kindergarten.

Education

Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 2017
M.A. in Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 2014
B.S. in Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011

Professional Roles

Member, Association for Women in Science
Member, Cognitive Development Society
Member, International Mind, Brain, and Education Society
Member, Providing Opportunities for Women in Education Research (POWER)
Member, Psi Chi International Honor Society
Member, Psychonomic Society
Member, Society for Research in Child Development
Member, Women in Cognitive Science

Awards and Honors

AERA-SRCD Early Career Fellowship in Middle Childhood Education and Development, 2019
Society for Research in Child Development Dissertation Award, 2016
Finalist, University of Notre Dame Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition, 2016
Psi Chi Graduate Student Research Grant, 2014
University of Notre Dame Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts Research Award, 2013
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2013

Featured Publications

Devlin, B. L., Hornburg, C. B., & McNeil, N. M. (2023). Kindergarten predictors of formal understanding of mathematical equivalence in second grade. Developmental Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001559

Lee, J.-E., Hornburg, C. B., Chan, J. Y.-C., & Ottmar, E. (2022). Perceptual and number effects on students’ initial solution strategies in an interactive online mathematics game. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 8(1), 166-182. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.8323

Hornburg, C. B., Devlin, B. L., & McNeil, N. M. (2022). Earlier understanding of mathematical equivalence in elementary school predicts greater algebra readiness in middle school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(3), 540-559. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000683

McNeil, N. M., Hornburg, C. B., Brletic-Shipley, H., & Matthews, J. M. (2019). Improving children’s understanding of mathematical equivalence via an intervention that goes beyond nontraditional arithmetic practice. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(6), 1023-1044. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000337

Hornburg, C. B., Schmitt, S. A., & Purpura, D. J. (2018). Relations between preschoolers’ mathematical language understanding and specific numeracy skills. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 176, 84-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.07.005

Featured Books