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 - 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 - Dumont, Hanna A1 - Neumann, Marko A1 - Nagy, Gabriel A1 - Becker, Michael A1 - Rose, Norman A1 - Trautwein, Ulrich T1 - Class composition Effects in non-academic lower secondary school tracks in the state of Baden-Württemberg JF - Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht : Zeitschrift für Forschung und Praxis N2 - The study investigates the effects of classroom composition (average ability, achievement, and socio-economic background, proportion of immigrant students) on the development in mathematics achievement, and reading literacy from grade 5 to 6. The study draws on a sample of N=1892 students in vocational track schools (Hauptschule) and intermediate track schools (Realschule) in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. After controlling for school type, and between-school differences in student intake characteristics, none of the compositional characteristics showed a statistically significant effect on achievement development. School track was associated with the development of reading literacy even after controlling for individual differences; however, this relationship lost its statistical significance after the composition of the student body was additionally taken into account. KW - Academic achievement KW - tracking KW - reading comprehension KW - mathematics KW - composition effects Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2378/peu2013.art16d SN - 0342-183X VL - 60 IS - 3 SP - 198 EP - 213 PB - Reinhardt CY - München ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bogdanova, Oksana Yu A1 - Miklashevsky, Alex A. A1 - Bogdanova, Elena L. A1 - Soldatenkova, O. B. T1 - Academic Achievement in Math and Foreign Language: Individual Characteristics and Gender Stereotypes JF - Sibirskiy psikholoicheskiy zurnal - Siberian of Journal psychology N2 - The study aims to investigate the contribution of individual characteristics and gender stereotypes of secondary school pupils in academic achievement in math and foreign language. A sample of pupils reported in 6th and 7th grades (three waves) their self-perceived ability and motivation for math and foreign language learning, math and foreign language gender stereotypes, implicit theories of intelligence; academic achievement (grades) in math in foreign language is also included in the analysis. Regression analysis and Mann Whitney U Test demonstrated that self-perceived ability in math and incremental theory of intelligence are significant predictors for academic achievement in maths. Boys are characterised by higher level of self-perceived abilities and motivation for learning math. However, academic achievement of girls in maths and foreign languages are higher as compared to boys. Pupils learning two foreign languages demonstrate higher level of self-perceived abilities for motivation and learning math and less expressed gender stereotypes about success in learning math and foreign languages. Study findings can be used for designing educational programmes for mathematics and foreign languages, professional development and finding solutions for individualized approach in school education. KW - self-perceived ability KW - motivation KW - gender stereotype KW - implicit theory of intelligence KW - mathematics KW - foreign language KW - academic achievement Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17223/17267080/73/11 SN - 1726-7080 SN - 2411-0809 IS - 73 SP - 176 EP - 196 PB - Tomsk state univ CY - Tomsk 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 -