Understanding how children connect approximate nonsymbolic magnitudes with exact symbolic numbers is a central question in theories of numerical development. A major debate concerns the directionality of this relation: whether approximate magnitude representations scaffold the acquisition of symbolic number knowledge, as proposed by mapping accounts, or whether symbolic number learning refines approximate magnitude processing, as proposed by refinement accounts. This study examined whether number-line estimation training enhances preschoolers’ number-line accuracy and early mathematical abilities, and whether it is associated with short-term developmental pathways between nonsymbolic and symbolic numerical systems. A total of 114 Swedish preschoolers participated in a pre-post intervention study, with an experimental group receiving three sessions of game-like computerized number-line estimation practice on a bounded 0–20 number line with trial-by-trial feedback. Results showed a large improvement in number-line accuracy and a modest but significant transfer effect to early mathematical abilities in the experimental group, whereas the control group showed no comparable gains in these intervention outcomes. Analyses of symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical processing revealed two complementary predictive dynamics. Symbolic abilities predicted later nonsymbolic performance after controlling for baseline nonsymbolic performance and condition, consistent with the refinement account. Conversely, nonsymbolic abilities predicted later symbolic performance after controlling for baseline symbolic performance and condition, consistent with predictions from the mapping account. Importantly, post-hoc analyses yielded converging, moderate directional evidence that this approximate-to-symbolic predictive relation was stronger in the experimental group than in the control group, consistent with the possibility that number-line training supports the coordination of approximate and symbolic numerical representations. These findings are consistent with a bidirectional view of numerical development in which symbolic knowledge refines approximate magnitude processing, while approximate numerical abilities can support symbolic development when children engage in learning activities that bridge both systems. By positioning number-line estimation as both an educational tool and a bridge between numerical systems, this study may help clarify mixed findings on developmental directionality and highlights a brief, scalable activity for scaffolding early mathematical learning.

Children’s probabilistic reasoning yields seemingly conflicting results across task conditions. While children often succeed when heuristic cues match probabilistic structure (congruent condition), they usually perform at chance when these cues conflict with proportional information (incongruent condition). This apparent inconsistency reflects a broader tension between probabilistic and heuristic accounts of reasoning under uncertainty, raising questions about whether judgment patterns remain consistent across conditions and whether they reflect distinct underlying decision-making mechanisms. We studied probabilistic reasoning in six-to-ten-year-old children (N = 92) using a two-alternative forced-choice task with congruent and incongruent trials, with small or large probability differences. A Gaussian Mixture Model identified three clusters in the incongruent-large condition: a proportion-based group, a heuristic group relying on target numerosity, and a chance-level group. Distinct sensitivities to probability differences and numerosity indicated consistent judgment patterns across conditions. Diffusion modeling showed that the heuristic group had higher decision efficiency in congruent trials and a pre-decisional bias toward the jar with more targets, whereas the proportion-based group accumulated evidence more efficiently in incongruent trials and showed unbiased pre-decisional states. These findings suggest that developmental transitions in probabilistic reasoning may not follow a linear path toward formal logic but rather involve a shifting balance between coexisting cognitive mechanisms that remain stable at the individual level throughout childhood. This challenges a strict dichotomy between probabilistic and heuristic accounts, suggesting instead that multiple cognitive mechanisms and stable individual differences underlie the emergence of probabilistic intuition in children.

Understanding the developmental dynamics between systems supporting approximate nonsymbolic abilities and symbolic magnitude processing is key for advancing both theory and educational practice. This study examines whether a certain way of practicing number line estimation can enhance number line estimation and early math skills in preschoolers and influence the developmental dynamics between nonsymbolic and symbolic numerical systems. A total of 114 Swedish preschoolers participated in a pre-post intervention study, with an experimental group receiving three sessions of number line estimation practice via a game-like computerized task. Results showed significant improvements in number-line accuracy and early math skills in the experimental group, while the control group exhibited stable performance across sessions. Critically, the analysis of dynamics between symbolic and nonsymbolic abilities revealed a bidirectional relation: symbolic skills predicted nonsymbolic development across groups, but the reverse prediction from nonsymbolic to symbolic skills only emerged in the experimental group. These findings support both refinement and mapping accounts and highlight number line training as a developmental bridge between numerical systems. Implications for educational tools aiming to scaffold early numerical development are discussed.

To study engagement and learning, we developed an asymmetric collaborative version of an existing VR-experience about environmental sustainability, enabling student teams of three, with only one wearing a headset at any time, to collaborate in three different virtual reality subgames. We compared this collaborative version to a non-collaborative version in a between-subjects experimental study (n = 20), finding that student teams using the collaborative version interacted to a larger extent while performing the subgames. The students in these teams self-reported a higher level of engagement, and observations suggested that interactions extended beyond necessary instructions. We did not find any significant differences when it comes to learning measured by scores on pre- and post- knowledge tests, but quantitative analysis of responses indicates that the VR-experience affected students overall and a qualitative analysis of an open question suggested a particular effect on the collaborative teams. Logged performance data indicated that collaborative teams managed to solve the tasks involved in the subgames at least as efficiently as the teams using the noncollaborative version.

This study examines teachers' use of evidence-based language learning techniques in the classroom and possible impact on student engagement. Video recordings of nine primary school teachers conducting interactive book reading with their students were analyzed both according to the Communication Supporting Classroom Observation Tool-Language Learning Interactions (CSCOT-LLI) and descriptively. Quantitative results were mostly in line with prior CSCOT studies, where commonly observed behaviors included asking open-ended questions and using symbols to reinforce language. Descriptively, behaviors did not always represent positive language learning interactions, but teachers with higher CSCOT-LLI scores were perceived to have more engaged students.

In two interventions, 139 and 52 preschool children, age 4-6, from low-SES communities in Sweden, used a play&-learn game in early mathematics for 10 weeks, about 20 min at a time. 50 % of the participating children were Swedish second language speakers with low language proficiency and about 20 % had learning vulnerabilities in the form of developmental language disorders and neurocognitive diagnoses. In contrast to teachers' predictions ahead of the interventions, game log data and teacher observations regarding children's sustained attention and perseverance - core elements of 'learning-related behaviors' - suggest that a majority of children, including children with reported learning difficulties, did well with respect to sustained attention and perseverance. It is proposed that the interventions allowed children with learning difficulties to demonstrate - and practice - these skills to a larger degree than expected. A relative difference in outcome between the two interventions is interpreted as an effect of differences in structured guidance and scaffolding by teachers and peers. Educational relevance statement: The two intervention studies reported in the paper engaged preschool children, age 4-6, in using a play-&-learn educational game in early mathematics for 10 weeks, about 20 min at a time. The children were from environments with low SES indexes. A substantial part of the participants were Swedish second language speakers with low language proficiency and some children had different neurocognitive diagnoses. Ahead of the intervention studies teachers raised doubts regarding the intervention setup, predicting that many children would not be able to stay sufficiently focused on the learning activities. Teachers also predicted that many children would have difficulties to engage in the learning activities as long as 20 min and to hold out all through the intervention period. In contrast to the predictions the data suggests that a majority of the children - including children with learning difficulties - managed well. Specifically, most of the children who encountered substantial challenges in gameplay, again including children with learning difficulties, showed high degrees of perseverance as well as sustained attention. In practical terms the results, together with similar and related results, suggest that high-quality early math activities can have a dual benefit and promote not only growth of math skills, but also growth of central basic skills such as perseverance and sustained attention. With the pressure many preschool teachers experience regarding pedagogical requirements, it may ease their burden to know that growth of more than one important skill can be targeted by one and the same intervention.

IntroductionTemporal co-ordination between speech and gestures has been thoroughly studied in natural production. In most cases gesture strokes precede or coincide with the stressed syllable in words that they are semantically associated with.MethodsTo understand whether processing of speech and gestures is attuned to such temporal coordination, we investigated the effect of delaying, preposing or eliminating individual gestures on the memory for words in an experimental study in which 83 participants watched video sequences of naturalistic 3D-animated speakers generated based on motion capture data. A target word in the sequence appeared (a) with a gesture presented in its original position synchronized with speech, (b) temporally shifted 500 ms before or (c) after the original position, or (d) with the gesture eliminated. Participants were asked to retell the videos in a free recall task. The strength of recall was operationalized as the inclusion of the target word in the free recall.ResultsBoth eliminated and delayed gesture strokes resulted in reduced recall rates compared to synchronized strokes, whereas there was no difference between advanced (preposed) and synchronized strokes. An item-level analysis also showed that the greater the interval between the onsets of delayed strokes and stressed syllables in target words, the greater the negative effect was on recall.DiscussionThese results indicate that speech-gesture synchrony affects memory for speech, and that temporal patterns that are common in production lead to the best recall. Importantly, the study also showcases a procedure for using motion capture-based 3D-animated speakers to create an experimental paradigm for the study of speech-gesture comprehension.

Information-and data literacy, the ability to critically examine and evaluate information and arguments in relation to empirical evidence, is increasingly crucial in a world overflowing with data and information from a multitude of sources.Information-and data literacy in younger students being understudied, we investigate these skills in Swedish 6 th graders to learn more about the educational challenges.Next, these findings will inform the development of a digital game for data literacy.Q1 Q6 Q7 Tot.(%) Q2 Q10 Tot.(%) Q5 Q8a Q8b Q9 Tot.(%) Q3 Q4 Tot.(%) Correct answers 41 22 60 123 39% 54 54 108 52% 50 56

Today, huge amounts of data are produced, collected, and presented in all kinds of contexts. The ability to critically examine and evaluate information and arguments in relation to empirical evidence is often referred to as information literacy. It is of utmost importance that students are adequately scaffolded to develop this ability, to be able to become democratic citizens. The study presented combines learning science and drama to explore whether this approach can make 6 grade students more aware of certain aspects of information literacy, such as false balance, the burden of proof, and filter bubbles. Half of the students watched a play and participated in a pedagogical follow-up before answering a questionnaire. The other half answered the questionnaire before the intervention. Results show that students watching the play had grasped the core of the more tangible questions, writing more elaborated and relevant answers than students in the control group.

Purpose: Dichotic speech tests are commonly used in audiological assessments of children with suspected listening difficulties, which may have a range of origins. In Sweden, today, one in four primary schoolchildren has a foreign background, which means that a large proportion of children will be assessed through the medium of a language that they speak at school, but it is not the language they regularly speak at home. This study examines dichotic listening ability among children attending primary schools in two cities in southern Sweden with a high proportion of recent immigrants. Method: In this study, 82 Swedish second and third graders aged 7–9 years with varying Swedish language exposure performed a dichotic listening task, under free recall and directed conditions. They also performed backward digit span as a measure of working memory and crosslinguistic nonword repetition, which is central for language learning. Results: We found no effect of Swedish language exposure on dichotic listening performance. Right ear was not significantly better than the left ear in either free or directed recall indicating no right ear advantage. Dichotic listening performance was significantly better in free recall compared with directed recall. Dichotic listening was related to working memory capacity. After controlling for working memory capacity, nonword repetition showed a significant positive association with dichotic listening under free recall but not directed recall. Conclusions: Test language exposure and knowledge do not seem to influence primary school children's performance on a dichotic digit task. Performance was related to working memory capacity and the complex skill of perceiving, coding, and producing novel words in a nonword repetition task. In clinical practice, both tests of working memory capacity and crosslinguistic nonword repetition may inform the interpretation of dichotic listening results in children with diverse language backgrounds.

Being information literate, i.e. being able to critically evaluate information and arguments in relation to empirical evidence, is extremely important.Our study combines learning science and drama to explore if 6 th grade students can grasp certain aspects of information literacy, such as fake news and filter bubbles.By analyzing free-text responses we concluded that the students are aware of the problems with fake news but have a very vague and naïve view of filter bubbles.

The article describes how a series of adaptions enabled us to carry out a controlled intervention study in 15 preschools, with 420 children and about 40 preschool teachers, during the Covid‑19 pandemic restrictions. The original overarching aim of the study was to develop and evaluate an early math intervention supporting children from low-SES environments to develop basic mathematical skills. The two main research questions addressed preschool children’s early math development using a digital play-&-learn game (anonymized), and the pedagogical impact of an integrated teacher resources package. Four guiding principles complemented the research questions: accumulation of new knowledge, collaboration & participatory design, experimental control & ecological validity, and real-world applicability. The focus of this article is on how data collections methods and analyses were adapted to handle the constraints induced by Covid‑19 without deviating from the original research questions and the four guiding principles. The adaptions clearly entailed methodological limitations. Yet the study demonstrates the possibility to conduct a remotely controlled effect study encompassing both ecological validity and real-world applicability

Critical constructive feedback (CCF), is said to be a key ingredient in learning.However, if and how learners engage in CCF is rarely studied in collaborative learning situations.This study aims to filling this research gap by analyzing data logs from dyads of middle school students using an educational game in history, evaluating their inclination to dismiss or attend to feedback when making errors and failing on tasks.Data from 106 students, working individually as well as in pairs on the same tablet, were analyzed and evaluated.The results reveal that the inclination to attend to feedback differed between conditions, but that this tendency also differed between achievement levels.While medium/lower-achieving students generally were more attentive towards feedback when working in pairs (compared to working individually), the opposite was found for higher-achieving students.However, higher-achieving students working in pairs attended more to CCF after repeated failures (compared to working individually).

In this paper, we argue for the importance of conducting replication studies over various schools and countries when addressing topics about learning and instruction and propose educational technology to be a tool for this endeavor. We present an example of a cross-cultural replication study that makes use of educational technology in the form of a digital game-based automated feedback system. The study addresses feedback related behavior in 11-15-year-old students in US and Swedish classrooms, investigating students' choices to seek confirmatory (i.e., positive) or critical (i.e., negative) feedback, as well as their subsequent choices to revise their work based on this feedback. Comparisons of the data collected at several schools in the US and Sweden showed similar patterns of relationships among students' feedback-seeking behavior, their tendency to revise their work, and their learning outcomes in and outside the assessment environment. Overall, the findings revealed that this assessment approach seems to be generalizable from a North American to a European population. However, the findings showed both a significant difference between Sweden and the US regarding the preference for critical feedback and between different schools within each country. Thus, it is possible that the difference between countries reflects school differences rather than cultural differences.

Virtual Reality has long been proposed to combine the reliability of controlled laboratory settings with the ecological validity of real life. While the technological development steadily pushes towards even more realistic renderings of the real world-the elusiveness of social and emotional elements gradually becomes more evident. This is not the least true for behavioral studies in rich sociocultural contexts. This article examines the outcomes of a study on distractions, taking place in a socially rich context-the classroom. The study made use of a Virtual Reality environment simulating a junior high school lesson, where the Distraction condition consisted of peers watching nonrelevant content on their laptops. In the control condition these laptops were closed. No significant distraction effects were found, neither on learning nor behavior. Given the strong support in the literature for such effects, the study design, including technical aspects, is scrutinized and discussed. We specifically highlight the difficulty of simulating a social relationship between the participant and agents in VR, which in this case makes the distraction stimulus significantly weaker. It is argued that the distraction effect of nearby peers' laptop use relies (partly) on shared attention with social agents with an established social relation and common interests.

The use of educational digital tools - both within and outside the classroom - has opened up for novel ways to investigate and pursue research on learning. For instance, the built-in intelligence that many applications have may also log the learner's actual activities, transforming them into models and statistics. Research reveals that such data-traces sometimes point in other directions than traditional self-reports, where students are asked about their learning activities or their use of a certain application or system. We wished to pursue this line of inquiry and explore if there are some types of estimations that correlate with objective measures, and hence if some types of estimations are better carried out through objective measures than through self-reports. Our study compared data-logged activities (clicks and eye-tracking measures) with self-reports on game-behavior for two types of estimations (requests for more feedback and reading feedback). To our knowledge, this kind of inquiry, comparing different types of data on feedback management, is rare. The results reveal that even if the students were quite good at estimating and reporting their requests for more feedback (in terms of clicks), they were substantially poorer at evaluating the extent of feedback messages they had read. These findings suggest that estimations of tasks that require more complex inner cognitive processes (e.g. reading) are more difficult for students themselves to report appropriately - whereas more procedural processes or concrete behaviors (i. e. clicking) are easier. These results are further discussed together with possible limitations in the measures used.

Background noise makes listening effortful and may lead to fatigue. This may compromise classroom learning, especially for children with a non-native background. In the current study, we used pupillometry to investigate listening effort and fatigue during listening comprehension under typical (0 dB signal-to-noise ratio [SNR]) and favorable (+10 dB SNR) listening conditions in 63 Swedish primary school children (7-9 years of age) performing a narrative speech-picture verification task. Our sample comprised both native (n = 25) and non-native (n = 38) speakers of Swedish. Results revealed greater pupil dilation, indicating more listening effort, in the typical listening condition compared with the favorable listening condition, and it was primarily the non-native speakers who contributed to this effect (and who also had lower performance accuracy than the native speakers). Furthermore, the native speakers had greater pupil dilation during successful trials, whereas the non-native speakers showed greatest pupil dilation during unsuccessful trials, especially in the typical listening condition. This set of results indicates that whereas native speakers can apply listening effort to good effect, non-native speakers may have reached their effort ceiling, resulting in poorer listening comprehension. Finally, we found that baseline pupil size decreased over trials, which potentially indicates more listening-related fatigue, and this effect was greater in the typical listening condition compared with the favorable listening condition. Collectively, these results provide novel insight into the underlying dynamics of listening effort, fatigue, and listening comprehension in typical classroom conditions compared with favorable classroom conditions, and they demonstrate for the first time how sensitive this interplay is to language experience.