Cognitive correlates of math skills in third-grade students

Math achievement is not a unidimensional construct but includes different skills that require different cognitive abilities. The focus of this study was to examine associations between a number of cognitive abilities and three domains of math skills (knowing, applying and problem solving) simultaneously in a multivariate framework. Participants were 723 third-grade children (mean age?=?9.07) from 28 elementary schools. Confirmatory factor analyses with binary indicators showed that a four-factor model of math skills (Knowing-Recalling, Knowing-Computing, Applying and Problem Solving) and a nine-factor model of cognitive abilities (Nonverbal and Verbal Reasoning, Verbal Concepts, Planning, Visuo-Spatial Working Memory (WM), two types of Verbal WM, Phonological Awareness and Phonological WM) fit the data well. Results from structural equation modelling showed that verbal reasoning and verbal concepts were most consistently associated with math knowing and problem solving domains. Verbal concepts contributed also to the math applying domain. In addition, simultaneous processing of verbal WM predicted problem solving skills in math. The results can be used in supporting the learning process of students with difficulties in math.     

Supplementing literacy instruction with a media-rich intervention: Results of a randomized controlled trial

This study investigates whether a curriculum supplement organized as a sequence of teacher-led literacy activities using digital content from public educational television programs can improve early literacy outcomes of low-income preschoolers. The study sample was 436 children in 80 preschool classrooms in California and New York. Preschool teachers were randomly assigned to implement either a 10-week media-rich early literacy intervention that employed clips from Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and SuperWhy! or to a comparison condition. The media-rich literacy supplement had positive impacts (+0.20 ≤ d ≤ +0.55) on children's ability to recognize letters, sounds of letters and initial sounds of words, and children's concepts of story and print. The study findings show the potential for incorporating literacy content from public media programming into curriculum supplements supported by professional development to impact early literacy outcomes of low-income children.     

The Relationships among Verbal Skills of Primary School Students with Specific Learning Disabilities and a Typically Developing Comparison Group

The relationships among verbal skills of primary school students with learning disabilities and a typically developing comparison group were studied and compared with written tasks carried out in Estonian classrooms. Word defining, categorising/justifying, guessing, and memorising tasks were used. The participants were 251 students in Grades 2–4; of these, 163 were described as achieving normally and were in regular education classrooms, and 88 were diagnosed as having specific learning disabilities and attended special schools or classes for students with specific learning disabilities. Except for performance on the memorising tasks by grade, all the scores were better in upper grades. Children with learning disabilities performed less well than the children in the typically developing comparison group on all the tests. Associations between the results of various tests were stronger in the typically developing comparison group than in the group of children with learning disabilities.     

Long-Term Memory for a Single Infancy Experience

Children's memory of a single infant experience was evaluated. Children in the experimental groups (N = 16 for 2.5-year-olds; N = 8 for 1.5-year-olds) had participated at 6.5 months in a study of auditory localization where they reached in the light and dark for a sounding object. They were reintroduced to the laboratory and the dark procedure they had experienced on that one occasion either 1 or 2 years previously. The first 5 trials were uninstructed; for the remaining 5 trials, children were instructed to find the sounding object. For half of the older group, a potential reminder of the infant procedure was introduced. The original infant rattle was sounded for 3 sec out of reach in the dark one-half hour prior to test trials. Equal numbers of age-matched inexperienced control subjects were also tested. The older children with infant experience reached and grasped the sounding object significantly more overall, and on instructed trials, than age-matched control children. Experienced 2.5-year-olds were also more likely to remain in the testing situation than children in the control group. The reminder facilitated uninstructed performance of the experienced children. Instructions to reach were helpful to all subjects. We conclude that children remembered aspects of a single experience that occurred when they were 6.5 months of age.