TY - JOUR A1 - Keller, Lena A1 - Preckel, Franzis A1 - Brunner, Martin T1 - Nonlinear relations between achievement and academic self-concepts in elementary and secondary school BT - an integrative data analysis across 13 countries JF - Journal of educational psychology / American Psychological Association N2 - It is well-documented that academic achievement is associated with students' self-perceptions of their academic abilities, that is, their academic self-concepts. However, low-achieving students may apply self-protective strategies to maintain a favorable academic self-concept when evaluating their academic abilities. Consequently, the relation between achievement and academic self-concept might not be linear across the entire achievement continuum. Capitalizing on representative data from three large-scale assessments (i.e., TIMSS, PIRLS, PISA; N = 470,804), we conducted an integrative data analysis to address nonlinear trends in the relations between achievement and the corresponding self-concepts in mathematics and the verbal domain across 13 countries and 2 age groups (i.e., elementary and secondary school students). Polynomial and interrupted regression analyses showed nonlinear relations in secondary school students, demonstrating that the relations between achievement and the corresponding self-concepts were weaker for lower achieving students than for higher achieving students. Nonlinear effects were also present in younger students, but the pattern of results was rather heterogeneous. We discuss implications for theory as well as for the assessment and interpretation of self-concept. KW - academic achievement KW - academic self-concept KW - mathematics KW - reading KW - nonlinear relations Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000533 SN - 0022-0663 SN - 1939-2176 VL - 113 IS - 3 SP - 585 EP - 604 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lazarides, Rebecca A1 - Dicke, Anna-Lena A1 - Rubach, Charlott A1 - Eccles, Jacquelynne Sue T1 - Profiles of motivational beliefs in math BT - exploring their development, relations to student-perceived classroom characteristics, and impact on future career aspirations and choices JF - The journal of educational psychology N2 - Four topics were investigated in this longitudinal person-centered study: (a) profiles of subjective task values and ability self-concepts of adolescents in the domain of mathematics, (b) the stability of and changes to the profiles of motivational beliefs from Grade 7 to 12, (c) the relation of changes to student-perceived classroom characteristics, and (d) the extent to which profile membership in early adolescence predicted mathematics achievement and career plans in late adolescence and the choice of math-related college majors and occupations in adulthood. Data were drawn from the Michigan Study of Adolescent and Adult Life Transitions Study. We focused on students who participated in the following 4 waves of data collection (N = 867): at the beginning of Grade 7 (Wave 3), at the end of Grade 7, in Grade 10 (Wave 5), and in Grade 12 (Wave 6). Four profiles that were stable across Grades 7 to 12 were identified using Latent Profile Analysis. Student-reported fairness and friendliness and competition in class predicted changes in profile membership. Profile membership in Grade 7 predicted math-related career plans in Grade 12. Profile membership in Grade 12 predicted the choice of math-related college major after finishing school and of math-related occupations in adulthood. KW - task value KW - self-concept KW - latent profile analysis KW - classroom KW - characteristics KW - mathematics Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000368 SN - 0022-0663 SN - 1939-2176 VL - 112 IS - 1 SP - 70 EP - 92 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lazarides, Rebecca A1 - Rubach, Charlott A1 - Ittel, Angela T1 - Adolescents’ perceptions of socializers’ beliefs, career-related conversations, and motivation in mathematics JF - Developmental psychology N2 - Research based on the Eccles model of parent socialization demonstrated that parents are an important source of value and ability information for their children. Little is known, however, about the bidirectional effects between students’ perceptions of their parents’ beliefs and behaviors and the students’ own domain-specific values. This study analyzed how students’ perceptions of parents’ beliefs and behaviors and students’ mathematics values and mathematics-related career plans affect each other bidirectionally, and analyzed the role of students’ gender as a moderator of these relations. Data from 475 students in 11th and 12th grade (girls: 50.3%; 31 classrooms; 12 schools), who participated in 2 waves of the study, were analyzed. Results of longitudinal structural equation models demonstrated that students’ perceptions of their parents’ mathematics value beliefs at Time 1 affected the students’ own mathematics utility value at Time 2. Bidirectional effects were not shown in the full sample but were identified for boys. The paths within the tested model varied for boys and girls. For example, boys’, not girls’, mathematics intrinsic value predicted their reported conversations with their fathers about future occupational plans. Boys’, not girls’, perceived parents’ mathematics value predicted the mathematics utility value. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for parents and teachers, as well as in relation to gendered motivational processes. KW - parents’ beliefs KW - parent–child conversations KW - motivation KW - mathematics KW - gender Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000270 SN - 0012-1649 SN - 1939-0599 VL - 53 IS - 3 SP - 525 EP - 539 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kucian, Karin A1 - Zuber, Isabelle A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Poltz, Nadine A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - von Aster, Michael G. T1 - Relation Between Mathematical Performance, Math Anxiety, and Affective Priming in Children With and Without Developmental Dyscalculia JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Many children show negative emotions related to mathematics and some even develop mathematics anxiety. The present study focused on the relation between negative emotions and arithmetical performance in children with and without developmental dyscalculia (DD) using an affective priming task. Previous findings suggested that arithmetic performance is influenced if an affective prime precedes the presentation of an arithmetic problem. In children with DD specifically, responses to arithmetic operations are supposed to be facilitated by both negative and mathematics-related primes (= negative math priming effect). We investigated mathematical performance, math anxiety, and the domain-general abilities of 172 primary school children (76 with DD and 96 controls). All participants also underwent an affective priming task which consisted of the decision whether a simple arithmetic operation (addition or subtraction) that was preceded by a prime (positive/negative/neutral or mathematics-related) was true or false. Our findings did not reveal a negative math priming effect in children with DD. Furthermore, when considering accuracy levels, gender, or math anxiety, the negative math priming effect could not be replicated. However, children with DD showed more math anxiety when explicitly assessed by a specific math anxiety interview and showed lower mathematical performance compared to controls. Moreover, math anxiety was equally present in boys and girls, even in the earliest stages of schooling, and interfered negatively with performance. In conclusion, mathematics is often associated with negative emotions that can be manifested in specific math anxiety, particularly in children with DD. Importantly, present findings suggest that in the assessed age group, it is more reliable to judge math anxiety and investigate its effects on mathematical performance explicitly by adequate questionnaires than by an affective math priming task. KW - developmental dyscalculia KW - mathematics KW - affective priming KW - calculation KW - arithmetic KW - anxiety KW - gender KW - children Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00263 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Hendrikje A1 - Felisatti, Arianna A1 - Aster, Michael von A1 - Wilbert, Jürgen A1 - Moers, Arpad von A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Neuromuscular diseases affect number representation and processing BT - An exploratory study JF - Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation N2 - Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) both are rare genetic neuromuscular diseases with progressive loss of motor ability. The neuromotor developmental course of those diseases is well documented. In contrast, there is only little evidence about characteristics of general and specific cognitive development. In both conditions the final motor outcome is characterized by an inability to move autonomously: children with SMA never accomplish independent motoric exploration of their environment, while children with DMD do but later lose this ability again. These profound differences in developmental pathways might affect cognitive development of SMA vs. DMD children, as cognition is shaped by individual motor experiences. DMD patients show impaired executive functions, working memory, and verbal IQ, whereas only motor ability seems to be impaired in SMA. Advanced cognitive capacity in SMA may serve as a compensatory mechanism for achieving in education, career progression, and social satisfaction. This study aimed to relate differences in basic numerical concepts and arithmetic achievement in SMA and DMD patients to differences in their motor development and resulting sensorimotor and environmental experiences. Horizontal and vertical spatial-numerical associations were explored in SMA/DMD children ranging between 6 and 12 years through the random number generation task. Furthermore, arithmetic skills as well as general cognitive ability were assessed. Groups differed in spatial number processing as well as in arithmetic and domain-general cognitive functions. Children with SMA showed no horizontal and even reversed vertical spatial-numerical associations. Children with DMD on the other hand revealed patterns in spatial numerical associations comparable to healthy developing children. From the embodied Cognition perspective, early sensorimotor experience does play a role in development of mental number representations. However, it remains open whether and how this becomes relevant for the acquisition of higher order cognitive and arithmetic skills. KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - numerical processing KW - mathematics KW - child development KW - embodied cognition KW - neuromuscular disease KW - spinal muscular atrophy KW - Duchenne muscular dystrophy Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697881 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Westphal, Andrea A1 - Vock, Miriam A1 - Kretschmann, Julia T1 - Unravelling the relationship between teacher-assigned grades, student personality, and standardized test scores JF - Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation N2 - The Big Five personality traits play a major role in student achievement. As such, there is consistent evidence that students that are more conscientious receive better teacher-assigned grades in secondary school. However, research often does not support the claim that students that are more conscientious similarly achieve higher scores in domain-specific standardized achievement tests. Based on the Invest-and-Accrue Model, we argue that conscientiousness explains to some extent why certain students receive better grades despite similar academic accomplishments (i.e., achieving similar scores in domain-specific standardized achievement tests). Therefore, the present study examines to what extent the relationship between student personality and teacher-assigned grades consists of direct as opposed to indirect associations (via subject-specific standardized test scores). We used a representative sample of 14,710 ninth-grade students to estimate these direct and indirect pathways in mathematics and German. Structural equation models showed that test scores explained between 8 and 11% of the variance in teacher-assigned grades in mathematics and German. The Big Five personality traits in students additionally explained between 8 and 10% of the variance in grades. Finally, the personality-grade relationship consisted of direct (0.02 | β| ≤ 0.27) and indirect associations via test scores (0.01 | β| ≤ 0.07). Conscientiousness explained discrepancies between teacher-assigned grades and students’ scores in domain-specific standardized tests to a greater extent than any of the other Big Five personality traits. Our findings suggest that students that are more conscientious may invest more effort to accomplish classroom goals, but fall short of mastery. KW - Big Five KW - student personality KW - teacher-assigned grades KW - grading practice KW - conscientiousness KW - mathematics KW - German KW - secondary school Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.627440 SN - 1664-1078 IS - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - THES A1 - Balt, Miriam T1 - Assessment of early numeracy development BT - contributions to designing a progression-based instrument to monitor learning N2 - Early numeracy is one of the strongest predictors for later success in school mathematics (e.g., Duncan et al., 2007). The main goal of first grade mathematics teachers should therefore be to provide learning opportunities that enable all students to develop sound early numeracy skills. Developmental models, or learning progressions, can describe how early numerical understanding typically develops. Assessments that are aligned to empirically validated learning progressions can support teachers to understand their students learning better and target instruction accordingly. To date, there have been no progression-based instruments made available for German teachers to monitor their students’ progress in the domain of early numeracy. This dissertation contributes to the design of such an instrument. The first study analysed the suitability of early numeracy assessments currently used in German primary schools at school entry to identify students’ individual starting points for subsequent progress monitoring. The second study described the development of progression-based items and investigated the items in regards to main test quality criteria, such as reliability, validity, and test fairness, to find a suitable item pool to build targeted tests. The third study described the construction of the progress monitoring measure, referred to as the learning progress assessment (LPA). The study investigated the extent to which the LPA was able to monitor students’ individual learning progress in early numeracy over time. The results of the first study indicated that current school entry assessments were not able to provide meaningful information about the students’ initial learning status. Thus, the MARKO-D test (Ricken, Fritz, & Balzer, 2013) was used to determine the students’ initial numerical understanding in the other two studies, because it has been shown to be an effective measure of conceptual numerical understanding (Fritz, Ehlert, & Leutner, 2018). Both studies provided promising evidence for the quality of the LPA and its ability to detect changes in numerical understanding over the course of first grade. The studies of this dissertation can be considered an important step in the process of designing an empirically validated instrument that supports teachers to monitor their students’ early numeracy development and to adjust their teaching accordingly to enhance school achievement. N2 - Frühes mengen- und zahlenbezogenes Wissen (early numeracy) ist einer der stärksten Prädiktoren für spätere Lernerfolge in der Schulmathematik. Hauptziel der Mathematiklehrkräfte der ersten Klassen sollte es daher sein, Lernmöglichkeiten anzubieten, die es allen Schüler*innen erlauben, fundierte mengen- und zahlenbezogene Fähigkeiten zu erwerben. Entwicklungsmodelle (learning progressions) beschreiben, wie sich frühes mengen- und zahlenbezogenes Verständnis typischerweise entwickelt. Diagnostische Tests (assessments), die sich an empirisch validierten Entwicklungsmodellen orientieren, können Lehrkräfte dabei unterstützen, die Leistungen ihrer Schüler*innen besser einzuschätzen und den Unterricht entsprechend darauf anzupassen. Bislang gibt es keine entwicklungsbasierten Instrumente, mit denen deutsche Lehrkräfte die Lernfortschritte ihrer Schüler*innen im Bereich des frühen mengen- und zahlenbezogenen Wissens erfassen können. Diese Dissertation trägt zur Gestaltung eines solchen Instruments bei. Die erste Studie untersucht, inwiefern sich derzeit an deutschen Grundschulen eingesetzte Instrumente zur mathematischen Schuleingangs-diagnostik dafür eignen, das individuelle Ausgangsniveau der Schüler*innen für eine anschließende Lernverlaufsdiagnostik zu bestimmen. In der zweiten Studie wird die Konstruktion von entwicklungsorientierten Items beschrieben. Es wurde untersucht, inwiefern die Items die Testgütekriterien Reliabilität, Validität und Testfairness erfüllen, um einen Item-Pool aufzubauen, der für adaptives Testen eingesetzt werden kann. Die dritte Studie beschreibt die Konstruktion einer Lernverlaufsdiagnostik, learning progress assessment genannt (LPA) und untersucht, inwieweit das LPA die individuellen Lernfortschritte der Schüler*innen hinsichtlich früher arithmetischer Konzepte im Verlauf der ersten Klasse erfassen kann. Die Ergebnisse der ersten Studie zeigten, dass die derzeit an den Grundschulen eingesetzten Verfahren zur Schuleingangsdiagnostik keine aussagekräftigen Informationen über die Erfassung von Lernausgangslagen zulassen. Daher wurde in den beiden anderen Studien der MARKO-D verwendet, um das arithmetische Wissen der Schüler*innen zum Schulanfang zu erfassen. Beide Studien liefern belastbare Evidenz für die Qualität des LPA und dessen Fähigkeit, Veränderung hinsichtlich arithmetischen Wissens im Laufe der ersten Klasse zu messen. Die in dieser Dissertation vorgestellten Studien können als wichtiger Schritt zur Entwicklung eines empirisch validierten Instruments betrachtet werden, das Lehrkräfte dabei unterstützt, die Entwicklung frühen mengen- und zahlenbezogenen Wissens zu erfassen und ihren Unterricht entsprechend anzupassen und damit den Lernerfolg der Schüler*innen zu fördern. KW - assessment KW - learning progression KW - early numeracy KW - primary school KW - mathematics KW - Diagnostik KW - Lernverlauf KW - numerische Basisfähigkeiten KW - Grundschule KW - Mathematik Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lazarides, Rebecca A1 - Lauerann, Fani T1 - Gendered Paths Into STEM-Related and Language-Related Careers BT - Girls’ and Boys’ Motivational Beliefs and Career Plans in Math and Language Arts JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Women are often underrepresented in math-intensive fields like the physical sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. By comparison, boys relative to girls are less likely to strive for jobs in social and human-services domains. Relatively few studies have considered that intra-individual comparisons across domains may contribute to gendered occupational choices. This study examines whether girls’ and boys’ motivational beliefs in mathematics and language arts are predictive of their career plans in these fields. The study focusses on same domain and cross-domain effects and investigates bidirectional relations between motivational beliefs and career plans. Data for this study stem from 1,117 ninth and tenth graders (53.2% girls) from secondary schools in Berlin, Germany. Findings show systematic gender differences in samedomain effects in mathematics: girls’ comparatively lower mathematics self-concept and intrinsic value predicted a lower likelihood of striving for a math-related career. Crossdomain effects were not related to gender-specific career plans, with only one exception. Girls’ lower levels of intrinsic value in mathematics corresponded to a higher likelihood of striving for a career in language-related fields, which subsequently predicted lower levels of intrinsic value in mathematics. This finding points to a need to address both genderspecific motivational beliefs and gender-specific career plans in school when aiming to enhance more gender equality in girls’ and boys’ occupational choices. KW - gendered motivational beliefs KW - career plans KW - mathematics KW - language arts KW - dimensional comparison Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01243 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 10 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -