Individual differences in working memory, nonverbal IQ, and mathematics achievement and brain mechanisms associated with symbolic and nonsymbolic number processing

Individual differences in mathematics performance may stem from domain-general factors like working memory and intelligence. Parietal and frontal brain areas have been implicated in number processing, but the influence of such cognitive factors on brain activity during mathematics processing is not known. The relationship between brain mechanisms during symbolic and nonsymbolic number comparison and individual differences in working memory, nonverbal IQ, and mathematics achievement were investigated to determine possible associations with behavior and brain function. A number of brain areas showed correlations with working memory and number processing. For symbolic digits, working memory showed a positive relationship with brain activity in a network of bilateral parietal, temporal, and right frontal regions. For nonsymbolic dot arrays, working memory showed a negative relationship with several parietal and frontal brain areas. This relationship indicates differences between behavioral and brain function measures and points to the importance of working memory and basic number processing.     

Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on gifted and non-gifted primary school students' well-being and motivation from a self-determination perspective

This study examined the impact of the COVID-19-induced school lockdown on need satisfaction, well-being and motivation in both gifted and non-gifted primary school students in the Netherlands. A total of 312 parents (122 from gifted children) participated. The lockdown had mainly negative effects on students' need satisfaction, well-being and motivation. However, the impact of the lockdown was less negative for gifted students. There was also a levelling effect: Before the lockdown, gifted students had lower need satisfaction, well-being and motivation than their non-gifted peers, but these differences decreased during the lockdown due to (stronger) declines in the non-gifted. Changes in non-gifted students' well-being and motivation, because of the lockdown, were negatively mediated by autonomy and relatedness with classmates. Among the gifted, this was positively mediated by competence. Only before the lockdown, the effects of giftedness on well-being and motivation were mediated by autonomy and relatedness satisfaction.     

From the Institutionalisation of ‘All Disabilities’ to Comprehensive Sports Integration: France Joining the Paralympic Movement (1954–2012)

This article presents the institutional implications and ideologies in the organisation of a Sports Movement for the disabled, whether a physical or sensory handicap, and focusing particular attention on its development in France, linked with international structures. The emergence and development in France of sports organisations for the disabled is based on a different model from that introduced in England by Guttmann through the Stoke Mandeville Games. From the 1960s, both trends, one supported by physicians and the other by individuals concerned with disabilities, structured the International Movement as a contest of negotiations and competition. The objective of rehabilitating paraplegics put in place at Stoke Mandeville gradually gave way to a sport rational and the integration of all types of disability within the Movement. The desire to unite in a single organisation was the driving force of the Movement in its search for dual recognition, on the one hand, as the representative of all physical and sensory deficiencies and, on the other, by the able-bodied sports councils and, in particular, the International Olympic Committee. However, this raised a number of issues inherent to any deficiency when taking into account its specific peculiarities.     

Word-to-text integration in English as a second language reading comprehension

Reading and Writing - We assessed the relationship between word-to-text-integration (WTI) and reading comprehension in 7th grade students (n?=?441) learning English as a second language...     

The Effects of Concreteness on Mathematical Manipulative Choice

There is mixed evidence as to whether concrete manipulatives (e.g., toy animals) are better than abstract manipulatives (e.g., counters) for teaching mathematical concepts to children. Concreteness is defined as the amount of extraneous information a manipulative provides, and in this study we aimed to unpick which dimensions of concreteness influence manipulative choice. Researchers, teachers, and parents completed a comparative judgment task comparing images of manipulatives varying in different dimensions of concreteness, selecting which they would choose to teach arithmetic to children. The findings indicated homogeneous, 3-dimensional manipulatives were the most preferred across all groups to teach arithmetic to children, regardless of more extraneous features. This contradicts research recommendations to minimize the use of concrete manipulatives due to their distractive qualities. Instead, it suggests that some concrete features may be preferred in more naturalistic contexts. More research is required to investigate how different dimensions of concreteness influence learning outcomes for children both in artificial research contexts and in practice.