Michele Mazzocco, professor at the Institute of Child Development and research director at the Center for Early Education and Development, is featured in The Atlantic online article Turning 3-Year-Olds Into Scientists, discussing the importance of early childhood education in science and math and how that education can influence the development of cognitive abilities all along an academic life. For example, Mazzocco says, if a child has been exploring concepts like cause and effect, patterns, shapes and other ratios of the practical world around them intuitively, a parent can help them connect this concept with the mathematical or scientific language that applies. “You’re providing the child with lots of language to explain principles they might not have overtly noticed,” Mazzocco said. “It’s never too early,” she said, “for adults to start teaching kids about math and science.”