Collaborative Research: Domain-General and Domain-Specific Training to Improve Children's Mathematics

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This project, a collaboration between researchers at the University of Maryland and the University of California-Irvine, will test the benefits of training activities for improving the mathematical achievement of kindergartners from low-income backgrounds using newly-developed tablet computer games. The gap in mathematical proficiency between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds is present before children enter elementary school, and it progressively widens over the course of schooling. Importantly, these early differences in mathematical knowledge predict the rate of growth in mathematics learning and achievement as late as high school. The investigators will examine improvements in children's numerical knowledge as well as improvements in working memory. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research program, which supports fundamental research that advances the research literature on STEM learning.The project examines how interventions targeted towards improving children's numerical knowledge (domain-specific skills) or their working memory (domain-general skills) might promote their mathematical achievement. The interventions will involve playing game-like activities on tablet computers over the course of several sessions. The main focus will be on children from low-income backgrounds who are most at risk for poor scholastic achievement due to their deficits in early mathematical skills and working memory capacity. Specifically, the project will 1) examine improvements in low-income children's conceptual and procedural numerical knowledge (domain specific skills) as well as improvements in working memory and executive control (domain general skills) by targeting either numerical knowledge or working memory in isolation, 2) examine the additive effects of a combined domain-specific and domain-general approach, 3) examine the longevity of any effects by follow-up testing participants several months after training completion, and 4) examine individual differences in the benefits of the training activities to determine whether preexisting abilities mediate and moderate training outcomes, and to examine whether specific interventions are more beneficial for a certain subpopulation of children than others. The findings should shed light on the underlying mechanisms of the development of mathematical skills, and advance the field's understanding of how different cognitive systems are differentially affected by specific interventions. This knowledge has implications for the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions.