Sex differences in arithmetical performance scores: Central tendency and variability

Acquisition of new arithmetic skills based on prior arithmetic skills: A cross-sectional study in primary school from grade 2 to grade 5

BACKGROUND

In several countries, children's math skills have been declining at an alarming rate in recent years and decades, and one of the explanations for this alarming situation is that children have difficulties in establishing the relations between arithmetical operations.

AIM

In order to address this question, our goal was to determine the predictive power of previously taught operations on newly taught ones above general cognitive skills and basic numerical skills.

SAMPLES

More than one hundred children in each school level from Grades 2 to 5 from various socio-cultural environments (N = 435, 229 girls) were tested.

METHODS

Children were assessed on their abilities to solve the four basic arithmetic operations. They were also tested on their general cognitive abilities, including working memory, executive functions (i.e., inhibition and flexibility), visual attention and language. Finally, their basic numerical skills were measured through a matching task between symbolic and nonsymbolic numerosity representations. Additions and subtractions were presented to children from Grade 2, multiplications from Grade 3 and divisions from Grade 4.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

We show that addition predicts subtraction and multiplication performance in all grades. Moreover, multiplication predicts division performance in both Grades 4 and 5. Finally, addition predicts division in Grade 4 but not in Grade 5 and subtraction and division are not related whatever the school grade. These results are examined considering the existing literature, and their implications in terms of instruction are discussed.

Role of Neurocognitive Factors in Academic Fluency for Children and Adults With Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele

OBJECTIVES

Fluency is a major problem for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, including fluency deficits for academic skills. The aim of this study was to determine neurocognitive predictors of academic fluency within and across domains of reading, writing, and math, in children and adults, with and without spina bifida. In addition to group differences, we expected some neurocognitive predictors (reaction time, inattention) to have similar effects for each academic fluency outcome, and others (dexterity, vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning) to have differential effects across outcomes.

METHODS

Neurocognitive predictors were reaction time, inattention, dexterity, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning; other factors included group (individuals with spina bifida, n=180; and without, n=81), age, and demographic and untimed academic content skill covariates. Univariate and multivariate regressions evaluated hypotheses.

RESULTS

Univariate regressions were significant and robust (R 2 =.78, .70, .73, for reading, writing, and math fluency, respectively), with consistent effects of covariates, age, reaction time, and vocabulary; group and group moderation showed small effect sizes (<2%). Multivariate contrasts showed differential prediction across academic fluency outcomes for reaction time and vocabulary.

CONCLUSIONS

The novelty of the present work is determining neurocognitive predictors for an important outcome (academic fluency), within and across fluency domains, across population (spina bifida versus typical), over a large developmental span, in the context of well-known covariates. Results offer insight into similarities and differences regarding prediction of different domains of academic fluency, with implications for addressing academic weakness in spina bifida, and for evaluating similar questions in other neurodevelopmental disorders. (JINS, 2019, 25, 249-265).

Time estimation deficits in childhood mathematics difficulties

Time perception has not been comprehensively examined in mathematics difficulties (MD). Therefore, verbal time estimation, production, and reproduction were tested in 13 individuals with MD and 16 healthy controls, matched for age, sex, and intellectual skills. Individuals with MD performed comparably to controls in time reproduction, but showed a tendency to be less accurate on tasks of verbal time estimation and time production. More specifically, these individuals overestimated the duration of a time interval in the verbal time estimation task and showed underproduction when required to produce a time sample. All previous significant comparisons remained significant after controlling for the effects of interval duration, working memory, attention allocation, and quantity estimation. These findings lead us to suggest that time estimation, and more specifically the "internal clock," is abnormally fast in individuals with MD. Results are discussed in terms of Meck and Church's model of temporal processing and Dehaene's triple code model for number processing.

Sorting Test, Tower Test, and BRIEF-SR do not predict school performance of healthy adolescents in preuniversity education

Executive functions (EF) such as self-monitoring, planning, and organizing are known to develop through childhood and adolescence. They are of potential importance for learning and school performance. Earlier research into the relation between EF and school performance did not provide clear results possibly because confounding factors such as educational track, boy-girl differences, and parental education were not taken into account. The present study therefore investigated the relation between executive function tests and school performance in a highly controlled sample of 173 healthy adolescents aged 12-18. Only students in the pre-university educational track were used and the performance of boys was compared to that of girls. Results showed that there was no relation between the report marks obtained and the performance on executive function tests, notably the Sorting Test and the Tower Test of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Functions System (D-KEFS). Likewise, no relation was found between the report marks and the scores on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Self-Report Version (BRIEF-SR) after these were controlled for grade, sex, and level of parental education. The findings indicate that executive functioning as measured with widely used instruments such as the BRIEF-SR does not predict school performance of adolescents in preuniversity education any better than a student's grade, sex, and level of parental education.