The present study extended previous research by clarifying the hierarchy and unique shared cognitive architectures among arithmetic operations. We examined how addition and subtraction fluency at the second grade fall relate to multiplication fluency at the third grade spring, and whether they have a shared cognitive architecture. This study was part of a longitudinal study comprising five assessment points of arithmetic, reading, and cognitive factors from the first to third grades (207 children; M-age = 7 years 8 months). Using structural equation modeling, the foundational numerical and nonnumerical cognitive precursors were included in a hierarchical development framework to explore the cognitive architecture of arithmetic skill development. By contrasting the findings concerning addition and subtraction fluency with those of reading fluency, we learned about the results' domain specificity. Both numerical abilities and serial retrieval fluency predicted multiplication skill in the baseline analysis. In the hierarchical models, their shared variance with prior arithmetic (addition and subtraction fluency) skills or reading fluency was partialled out to examine the shared unique cognitive architecture between operations. Addition fluency explained most of the variance in multiplication fluency, but numerical abilities, retrieval fluency, and working memory also had small predictive associations in the addition fluency model. The subtraction fluency model remained on par with the addition fluency model. In the reading fluency model, numerical abilities were the strongest predictor following by reading fluency and serial retrieval fluency, and reading fluency predicted multiplication fluency, but working memory did not. These findings indicate domain specificity and partially distinct cognitive underpinnings for different arithmetic operations.
Interpolated prequestioning is a learning technique in which practice questions targeting yet-to-be-learned information (i.e., prequestions) are interspersed throughout a set of learning materials. As learners view those materials, they make guesses for each question, then have the opportunity to discover the correct answers in subsequently viewed materials. Emerging evidence suggests that this technique can cause learners to pay closer attention during lectures, yielding better learning outcomes. That possibility has yet to be investigated, however, relative to a competitive nontesting technique, using categorical experience sampling methods, and without the contaminating influence of other, nonlecture learning activities. In each of three experiments, undergraduate students (Experiment 1) or online adult learners (Experiments 2-3) watched a prerecorded video lecture with prequestions or statements containing learning objectives interpolated throughout, responded to categorical thought probes, and then took a criterial test assessing memory and comprehension of the lecture content. Across experiments, regardless of question format, interpolated prequestioning yielded higher rates of lecture-related on-task thoughts than studying interpolated statements. Prequestioning also improved test scores significantly in two of the three experiments, which mediation analyses attributed to higher rates of on-task thoughts. Furthermore, although rates of off-task thinking were relatively low, there were indications that prequestioning dampened comprehension-related off-task and task-unrelated thoughts. Together, these findings suggest that interpolated prequestioning can strengthen focused attention and facilitate learning from lectures.
Psychological need satisfaction energizes behavioral engagement, but behavioral engagement may also create the conditions to experience psychological need satisfaction. Recognizing this possible reciprocal relation and using a self-determination theory framework, we used a within-subjects research design to assess the reciprocal effects of student need satisfaction and their behavioral engagement under three conditions: low, moderate, and high perceived teacher control. We hypothesized that early-wave need satisfaction would enhance later-wave behavioral engagement, and that early-wave behavioral engagement would similarly enhance later-wave need satisfaction (i.e., reciprocal causation). We also hypothesized that high teacher control would moderate this reciprocal relation. Participants were 2,690 Korean secondary school students (48.6% females, 70.8% middle school students) taking the physical education course who reported their class experiences over three waves during an 18-week semester. The random intercept-cross-lagged panel model analysis confirmed the hypothesized reciprocal relations. A follow-up three-group random intercept-cross-lagged panel model analysis showed that high teacher control moderated the reciprocal relation, as behavioral engagement did not enhance need satisfaction for students who perceived their teacher to be highly controlling. We conclude that need satisfaction and behavioral engagement tend to have a positive, enhancing, and reciprocal effect on each other-unless one's teacher transforms the student's need-satisfying behavioral engagement into teacher-prescribed compliance.
This meta-analysis examined the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and reading and writing skills, investigating both the strength of correlations and the size of disparities between students from low versus high SES backgrounds. We analyzed 194 studies meeting inclusion criteria, with 140 studies (618 effect sizes [ESs]) contributing to correlational analyses and 59 studies (262 ESs) to achievement difference analyses. Results revealed a small-to-moderate positive correlation between individual-level SES and literacy achievement (r = .21) based on over 1.8 million participants. The relation was moderate-to-strong for aggregate-level SES measures (r = .43), supporting predictions about concentrated socioeconomic effects. Achievement difference analysis demonstrated substantial disparities between high and low SES groups (g = 0.77), with large reading disparities (g = 1.05) and moderate writing disparities (g = 0.58). Moderation analyses revealed several important patterns. Individual SES-literacy relations strengthened across grade levels, supporting cumulative (dis)advantage models. Assessment-level analyses showed that SES-related differences were significantly larger for reading comprehension compared with word reading. The relations and disparities remained consistent across different SES indicators (income, education, occupation) and study characteristics (e.g., publication year, country). Findings provide strong empirical support for theoretical frameworks emphasizing cumulative and multifaceted influences of SES on literacy development. The substantial achievement disparities and strong relations at aggregate levels underscore the need for multilevel interventions addressing both individual and contextual factors. Results highlight the critical importance of early intervention and sustained support to prevent the accumulation of socioeconomic disadvantages in literacy development.
Teaching students to use mathematical algorithms is a major part of standard math curricula, but there is long-standing debate about how-or even if-algorithms should be taught. Division is a fundamental operation for which students regularly use algorithms, the most popular being traditional long division (TLD). Although regarded as highly efficient, TLD is conceptually opaque and challenging to learn. The partial quotients (PQ) algorithm has been proposed as a more understandable alternative to TLD, but no study has directly compared their efficiency or transparency. In this study, we investigated how well fourth- and fifth-grade students performed and understood the rationale for TLD and PQ. Students (n = 65) received a brief lesson on either TLD or PQ and then solved seven problems using that algorithm. Problems varied by dividend size (small = three digits, large = four to five digits). Afterward, students explained the conceptual rationale behind their assigned algorithm during a guided interview. Problem-solving performance was high overall. Regression analyses controlling for pretest performance did not show differences in accuracy between algorithms, but showed an advantage in speed for large-dividend problems favoring TLD. Interview scores indicated that PQ was more easily understood than TLD, t(25) = 2.97, p = .005, Cohen's d = 0.85. Accordingly, students made more algorithm-based errors and more extreme errors when using TLD, whereas students using PQ made more computational and less extreme errors. These results suggest that incorporating PQ into elementary mathematics instruction may enhance students' understanding of division.
Situated expectancy-value theory emphasizes contextual influences on motivation, yet perceived cost remains underexplored relative to expectancy-value interactions. In Taiwan's high-pressure academic context, we examined whether the relationship between expectancy and mathematics achievement is mediated by maladaptive motivational engagement (MME), and whether this indirect pathway is conditional on students' emotional and effort costs. Using three-wave data from 733 seventh-grade students over 18 months, mediation and moderated mediation analyses were conducted through structural equation modeling. Results supported a partial mediation effect: students with higher expectancy beliefs were less likely to engage in MME, which in turn was associated with better achievement. However, this indirect pathway was moderated by students' perceived costs. Specifically, emotional cost attenuated the indirect pathway: The indirect effect was present only at low levels of emotional cost and diminished to nonsignificance as emotional cost increased. In contrast, effort cost exhibited a nonlinear reversal pattern: The indirect effect was statistically significant at low levels, became statistically nonsignificant at moderate levels, and reversed only at the extreme high end-suggesting that expectancy was linked to more MME and lower achievement when students perceived mathematics as extremely effortful. These findings underscore that although higher expectancy beliefs generally buffer against MME and facilitate achievement over time, their benefits may be undermined or even reversed under high-cost conditions. By clarifying how emotional and effort costs moderate this pathway in distinct ways, this study advances situated expectancy-value theory and highlights the need to address nuanced perceptions of cost in high-pressure academic contexts.
Various psychological theories agree that occupational well-being is influenced by both the work environment and individual characteristics. However, very few empirical studies have comprehensively investigated the role of teachers' work environment. Drawing on a broad conceptualization of school climate, we investigated the role that the relative associations between structural and social characteristics play in teachers' occupational well-being. We examined (a) how much teachers' occupational well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, positive affect, psychosomatic symptoms) varied between schools, and (b) how school characteristics, such as the social climate (e.g., leadership) contributed to teachers' occupational well-being beyond structural characteristics (e.g., school size) and individual variables (e.g., stressors). These questions were examined with reference to different countries as we aimed to obtain an indication of the generalizability of the psychological factors related to occupational well-being across different education systems. The study drew on the responses of 56,657 teachers from 4,100 schools across 17 countries, collected as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 survey. Overall, much of the variation in teachers' occupational well-being was located within schools. However, our results also indicate that there were small but meaningful differences between schools in almost all countries. As expected, individual job demands (overload, stressors) were consistently related to teachers' occupational well-being. At the school level, a trustful school climate in particular explained teachers' occupational well-being. These results indicate that interventions that target factors of the social climate can be promising to foster teachers' occupational well-being and should be integrated into existing interventions that mostly focus on the individual.
The focus of this work was on test boredom experienced while working on difficult versus easy tasks. In Study 1 (N = 208 eighth graders), we investigated the structural validity of test boredom while working on difficult tasks (i.e., overchallenge boredom) versus easy tasks (i.e., underchallenge boredom). Supporting our hypotheses, the Test Boredom Scale-State demonstrated scalar invariance across both situations, with weak-to-moderate correlations of boredom between the two situations. Also consistent with our hypotheses, a prototypical single boredom item from the Test Boredom Scale-State showed measurement invariance but weak correlations across situations. These findings suggest that test boredom represents the same emotion in both situations and can be validly assessed with a single item. Based on these findings, in Study 2 (N = 132 university students), we used this item to test the hypothesis that test boredom reduces cognitive resources and performance when working on difficult tasks but not when working on easy tasks (i.e., the abundance hypothesis). We used an experimental within-person design in which participants worked on both difficult and easy digit span memory tasks. As expected, the results indicated that boredom experienced during difficult tasks negatively affected performance by reducing cognitive resources (measured via reaction time), a consequence of processing boredom. In contrast, boredom experienced during easy tasks had no negative impact on performance, likely because cognitive resources remained abundant even when processing boredom. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Reading comprehension ability is highly correlated with grammatical knowledge (Catts et al., 2006; Nation et al., 2010); however, many poor comprehenders cannot accurately identify grammatical constituents (Breen et al., 2024; Groen et al., 2019). We present a computational linguistics-based method for generating a new text format that cues grammatical relationships via line breaks and indentations. This study provides preliminary evidence regarding its effects on comprehension and attitudes toward its use. We evaluated this format with 87 fourth and fifth graders attending a U.S. public school (Primary Language: English; 46 female; M-age = 9.6 years; 36% White, 30% Black, 21% Hispanic, 6% more than two, and 7% Asian). Over a 12-week period, an experimental (Linguistically Driven Text Formatting) and a control (traditional format) group read passages matched to their Lexile reading level for 5 weeks, and then switched formats for the remainder of the study. Accuracy to comprehension questions was significantly improved for readers at the 25th-50th percentiles for their grade, based on Lexile norms. These students reported that Linguistically Driven Text Formatting helped them "hear how the sentence would sound if it were read aloud." Gains remained significant for students in the 25th percentile upon returning to traditional formatting and were numerically better for those in the 50th percentile. Students in the 10th percentile reported "feeling more confident about answers," although accuracy gains were not significant. We discuss how visual cueing of syntactic relationships supports fluent reading through scaffolding natural phrasing and creation of an accurate situation model.
Students with a high need for cognition (NFC) enjoy cognitive challenges, prefer complex tasks, engage deeply, and invest their cognitive resources in learning. Ample evidence supports the role of NFC in education. However, relatively little is known about its development. This study examines the temporal change and stability of NFC as well as couplings of its development with motivational development in a representative sample of N = 8,410 students across 6 years of elementary to secondary education in Luxembourg. Students were aged M = 8.53 years (SD = 0.65) at the first of four assessments (Grades 3, 5, 7, and 9), 47.1% female, 62.7% with a migration background (MB). Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling and multivariate growth curve models with latent variables. Mean levels in NFC steadily decreased over time (d = -0.229 to d = -0.586 for the 2-year intervals; mean slope of mu = -.257 over 6 years). There was significant variability between individuals in NFC changes over time. Rank-order stabilities over 2 years were small and increased slightly with grade level (r = .242 to r = .301). Students' development of NFC was associated with their motivational development (i.e., academic self-concept and interest), also when controlling for academic achievement and sociodemographic variables.
Ethnic Studies education, which focuses on the first-person perspectives of racially minoritized groups, is a promising antiracist educational intervention that may spur students' sociopolitical development, which can prepare Asian Americans to navigate and challenge systems of oppression. As research on the developmental benefits of Ethnic Studies education grows, quantitative research is especially imperative to corroborate qualitative research and inform research-driven educational policy. The current study explores Ethnic Studies education as an intervention for antiracist youth development among Asian American college students (N = 254). Asian American students enrolled in college Ethnic Studies courses in 2022 were surveyed at the beginning (i.e., pretest) and end (i.e., posttest) of their Ethnic Studies course. Random intercept latent transition analysis examined Asian American critical consciousness development among Ethnic Studies students. Differing levels of Asian American-specific and general critical consciousness indicators differentiated three latent profiles at pretest and four latent profiles at posttest. Compared with their pretest latent profile membership, over 83% of participants transitioned into posttest latent profiles with higher average scores on critical consciousness indicators. The current study offers quantitative support and implications for Ethnic Studies education's potential as an intervention to bolster Asian Americans' sociopolitical development.
The present study examined domain-general and domain-specific predictors of prealgebra competence among seventh-grade students with mathematics difficulties (MD) and their typically developing (TD) peers. Two cohorts of 324 seventh graders (193 MD students; 131 TD students) were assessed on working memory, shifting, inhibition, language, arithmetic fluency, and whole-number and fraction number line estimation in fall, and on prealgebra competence measured in the spring. Multigroup path analysis showed that working memory and shifting predicted prealgebra competence for TD students but not MD students, consistent with the threshold hypothesis that sufficient foundational skills are required for cognitive resources to support advanced mathematics. Language predicted prealgebra competence across both groups, further highlighting its role as a prerequisite skill. For both groups, fraction number line estimation was the strongest predictor of prealgebra competence, supporting the snowballing hypothesis that foundational mathematics skills become increasingly important over time. Whole-number line estimation predicted prealgebra competence only for TD students, whereas arithmetic fluency uniquely predicted prealgebra competence only for MD students. We discuss how these shared and unique predictors affect prealgebra competence and their implications.
The present study examined the longitudinal relationship between statistical learning (SL) and reading development among 191 typically developing children (M-age = 8.12 years). Children completed tasks assessing SL of Chinese orthographic regularities (positional and phonetic) and nonlinguistic patterns (visual and auditory), as well as reading (i.e., character, word, and sentence reading) and control measures at each time point. Results revealed a reciprocal association between orthographic SL and reading, whereas nonlinguistic SL showed a unidirectional effect-predicting later reading, but not the reverse. These findings suggest that SL supports reading acquisition through both domain-general and domain-specific mechanisms and that reading experience enhances children's sensitivity to orthographic structure over time.
Math anxiety poses a significant challenge to mathematics achievement, particularly during adolescence-a period marked by heightened peer comparison and gendered social expectations. Drawing on data from the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), this study analyzes responses from 371,019 15-year-olds across 69 countries to investigate how individual performance, peer academic achievement, peer math anxiety, and gender interact to shape students' math anxiety. Using both ordinary least squares and multilevel modeling, we find robust support for multiple hypotheses: Math anxiety is negatively associated with individual performance and positively associated with peer performance and peer anxiety. Notably, these peer-related effects are significantly stronger among girls. Exploratory heterogeneity analyses indicate that individual traits and school context can influence these relationships. Moreover, although average math anxiety tends to be lower in high-income and high-performance countries, a student's relative math performance (vis-& agrave;-vis one's peers) appears to matter more in high-income countries, especially in European countries. These findings build on the existing literature that math anxiety is not only an individual emotional response but also a socially embedded phenomenon. Enhancing students' mathematical competence and alleviating anxiety call for classroom- and school-level interventions that promote equitable and supportive learning environments. This has important implications for policy, pedagogy, and future research.
A basic responsibility of schools worldwide is to teach students to write effective argumentative texts. To meet this objective, teachers need access to evidence-based practices for writing such texts. In this meta-analysis, we examined if the argumentative writing of students in Grades 1-12 can be improved through instruction. Our meta-analysis included published and unpublished studies testing writing treatments with experimental or quasi-experimental designs (with pretests). Effect sizes (ESs) were computed for all writing and content learning outcomes at posttest and maintenance. Across 185 treatment/ control comparisons involving 22,216 students, instruction had a positive and statistically detectable impact on students' argumentative writing immediately following instruction (ES = 0.52), and on maintenance probes administered up to 15 weeks later (ES = 0.69). Instruction to improve argumentative writing also enhanced content learning (ES = 0.38). In addition, a variety of different instructional approaches enhanced students' argumentative writing on all measures collectively at posttest including dialogic instruction (ES = 0.89), strategy instruction (ES = 0.78), peers working together (ES = 0.55), knowledge building (ES = 0.35), prewriting (ES = 0.28), feedback (ES = 0.26), and goal setting (ES = 0.22). At maintenance, strategy instruction evidenced a positive and statistically significant impact on argumentative writing (ES = 0.75). Implications for practice, research, and theory are discussed. Educational Impact and Implications Statement An important responsibility of schools is to teach students to create sound and convincing written arguments. This is more likely to occur when teachers have access to proven and effective instructional practices for accomplishing this aim. This meta-analysis of writing intervention studies focusing on students in Grades 1-12 found argumentative writing can be improved through instruction. Particularly effective practices for teaching argumentative writing included strategy instruction where students are taught strategies for planning, drafting, or revising argumentative text; dialogic instruction where students discuss a controversial topic or their response to it; collaborative writing where peers write arguments together; knowledge building where argumentative writing is used as a tool for learning; prewriting where pertinent information for an argument is gathered, organized, or both before writing; and goal setting where the objectives of argumentative writing are established.
This study builds on theoretical models linking motivation, affect, and cognition in reading development to examine how reading engagement interacts with negative emotions such as reading anxiety. We investigated whether reading engagement, reading self-efficacy, and reading cognitive processes mediate the relationship between reading anxiety and reading achievement. Using moderated mediation multigroup structural equation modeling, we analyzed data from 535 students in Grades 3-5, including 339 emergent bilinguals (EBs) and 196 English monolinguals (EMs). The models showed significant direct effects of reading anxiety on reading self-efficacy and reading engagement, and of cognitive processes on reading engagement in both language groups. Although most path coefficients did not differ significantly between groups, reading anxiety and cognitive processes directly predicted reading achievement among emergent bilinguals but not EMs. Reading engagement consistently mediated the indirect effects of reading anxiety on achievement through self-efficacy in both groups, and through cognitive processes among EMs only. Overall, the findings highlight the central mediating and potentially protective role of reading engagement in mitigating the negative impact of reading anxiety, particularly for students with reading comprehension difficulties.
Interleaved sequences (mixing categories) have been shown to improve learning of confusable categories compared with blocked sequences (studying categories one at a time), because interleaving highlights essential between-category differences (i.e., its affordance). Learners, however, tend not to appreciate the benefits of interleaving, presumably because they pursue the goal to find commonalities and perceive interleaving as effortful. In three experiments, we investigated whether aligning learners' goals with the affordances of interleaving-by instructing them to look for between-category differences (vs. commonalities vs. generic goal)-augments its benefits and reduces the experience of effort. Goal instruction to find differences (distinguishing goal) did not increase the benefits of interleaving, but it did moderate the impact of study sequence on perceived effort. Interleaving led to higher effort experience only if the goal was generic or finding commonalities. Critically, this pattern reversed under distinguishing goal: Interleaving led to lower effort experience compared with blocking. These findings suggest that learners' perceived effort depends on the (mis)alignment between their goals and the study sequence affordances. Under typical (generic) goal instruction, learners experience high effort during interleaved learning because the disruption of category presentation does not support their spontaneous goal for finding commonalities (whereas blocking does). However, by shifting learners' goal toward finding differences, learners experience less effort because the juxtaposition of different categories via interleaving supports this goal (whereas blocking does not). Instructing learners to distinguish can thus lower the experience of effort in interleaved learning.
