Algebraic Learning and Cognition in Learning Disabled Students

学习障碍学生的代数学习和认知

• 批准号: 1659133
• 负责人: David Geary
• 金额: $ 234.13万
• 依托单位: University of Missouri-Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1659133&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Algebraic; Learning; Cognition; Disabled; Students

This proposal was submitted in response to EHR Core Research (ECR) program announcement NSF 15-509. The ECR program of fundamental research in STEM education provides funding in critical research areas that are essential, broad and enduring. EHR seeks proposals that will help synthesize, build and/or expand research foundations in the following focal areas: STEM learning, STEM learning environments, STEM workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM. The ECR program is distinguished by its emphasis on the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to (a) understand, (b) build theory to explain, and (c) suggest interventions (and innovations) to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning, and participation.High school algebra is the gateway to a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and can influence employability and wages in many non-STEM occupations. Students who struggle with or fail high school algebra have compromised occupational prospects, and nations that do not produce mathematically competent citizens may compromise their economic growth. Much is known about the factors that contribute to students' difficulties with arithmetic learning and interventions are being developed to address these difficulties. Little is known, however, about why some students struggle with algebra. Accordingly, the project will follow at risk students (including for example, those with dyslexia) from 7th grade through high school algebra and assess their prerequisite knowledge (e.g. fractions skills), cognitive systems (e.g., memory), attitudes and reactions to mathematics (e.g. math anxiety) and their attentiveness in math classrooms. The comprehensive evaluation of these students will allow us to identify the factors that influence difficulties in learning different aspects of algebra and risk of failing algebra more generally. The results will provide unique scientific insights into the cognitive and motivational influences on students' understanding and learning of algebra and identify areas for intervention with at-risk students. The results will also be used to develop a screening measure for the early identification of at-risk students and to identify specific areas for targeted intervention. The measure will be made freely available to interested school districts throughout the United States. The project is a 7th to 9th grade longitudinal assessment of the prerequisite (e.g. fractions), cognitive (e.g. working memory), and non-cognitive (e.g. math anxiety) factors that dynamically influence students' algebraic learning and cognition, with a focus on students with learning disabilities in mathematics. The study will provide the most comprehensive assessment of the development of algebra competence ever conducted and is organized by an integrative model of cognitive and non-cognitive influences on students' engagement in math classrooms and on the learning of procedural and spatial-related aspects of algebra. The focus on students at risk for failing high school algebra is informed by research on the number and arithmetic deficits of these students, providing continuity with previous work, and a strong a priori framework for assessing their most likely difficulties in learning algebra; specifically, we developed novel measures that assess different aspects of procedural algebra (e.g. memory for the structure of algebra equations) and spatial-related algebra (e.g. recognizing how common functions map to coordinate space) that will allow for the study of different types of learning deficits and a determination of how more basic cognitive abilities, such as visuospatial working memory, may underlie these deficits. Prior cognitive studies of at-risk students have largely ignored the contributions of non-cognitive factors, such as math anxiety, on their learning or how their learning difficulties change attitudes about and reactions to mathematics (e.g. increasing math anxiety). The proposed research will address this important oversight and integrate these non-cognitive factors with assessments of teacher-rated student engagement in pre-algebra and algebra classrooms (and language arts classrooms as a contrast) and how engagement in the classroom influences the learning of procedural and spatial-related algebra. The research will also provide a thorough analysis of cognitive and non-cognitive influences on algebraic learning and cognition more generally, and thus inform general educational practices. In all, the proposed research will provide a comprehensive model for the study algebraic learning and cognition generally, and will provide a comprehensive assessment of associated deficits of learning disabled students and students at risk for failing high school algebra. The research will also make available revised or newly developed cognitive measures of procedural and spatial-related algebra skills that should facilitate future cognitive science and educational studies of algebra learning.

该提案是针对电子病历核心研究(ECR)计划公告NSF 15-509而提交的。ECR STEM教育基础研究计划为关键的研究领域提供资金，这些领域是基本的、广泛的和持久的。EHR寻求的建议将有助于综合、建立和/或扩大以下重点领域的研究基础：STEM学习、STEM学习环境、STEM劳动力发展和扩大STEM的参与。ECR计划的特点是强调积累可靠的证据，为以下工作提供信息：(A)理解，(B)建立解释理论，(C)提出干预措施(和创新)，以应对STEM兴趣、教育、学习和参与方面的持续挑战。高中代数是进入科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)职业生涯的门户，可以影响许多非STEM职业的就业能力和工资。高中代数成绩不佳或不及格的学生会影响就业前景，而培养不出有数学能力的公民的国家可能会影响其经济增长。很多人都知道造成学生算术学习困难的因素，目前正在制定干预措施来解决这些困难。然而，对于为什么有些学生会在代数上苦苦挣扎，人们知之甚少。因此，该项目将跟踪高危学生(例如，包括阅读困难的学生)，从七年级到高中代数，并评估他们的必备知识(例如分数技能)、认知系统(例如记忆)、对数学的态度和反应(例如数学焦虑)以及他们在数学课堂上的注意力。对这些学生的综合评估将使我们能够确定影响学习代数不同方面的困难的因素，以及更普遍的代数不及格风险。研究结果将为认知和动机对学生理解和学习代数的影响提供独特的科学见解，并确定对高危学生进行干预的领域。研究结果还将用于制定筛查措施，以便及早识别高危学生，并确定特定地区进行有针对性的干预。这项措施将免费提供给全美感兴趣的学区。该项目是对动态影响学生代数学习和认知的先决条件(例如分数)、认知(例如工作记忆)和非认知(例如数学焦虑)因素进行的纵向评估，重点是有数学学习障碍的学生。这项研究将对代数能力的发展提供有史以来最全面的评估，并由一个综合模型组织，该模型包括认知和非认知对学生在数学课堂上的投入以及对代数程序和空间相关方面的学习的影响。关注高中代数不及格的风险学生是通过对这些学生的数量和算术缺陷的研究，提供了与以前的工作的连续性，以及一个强大的先验框架来评估他们在学习代数方面最可能的困难；具体地说，我们开发了新的测量方法，评估程序代数的不同方面(例如，对代数方程结构的记忆)和与空间相关的代数(例如，认识到共同函数如何映射到坐标空间)，这将允许研究不同类型的学习缺陷，并确定更基本的认知能力，如视觉空间工作记忆，如何可能是这些缺陷的基础。以前对高危学生的认知研究大多忽略了非认知因素，如数学焦虑对他们学习的影响，或者他们的学习困难是如何改变对数学的态度和反应的(例如，增加的数学焦虑)。这项拟议的研究将解决这一重要的疏忽，并将这些非认知因素与教师对预代数和代数课堂(与之形成对比的是语言艺术课堂)的学生参与程度的评估相结合，以及课堂参与如何影响程序代数和空间相关代数的学习。这项研究还将全面分析认知和非认知对代数学习和认知的影响，从而为一般教育实践提供参考。总之，拟议的研究将为代数学习和认知研究提供一个全面的模型，并将对学习困难学生和高中代数不及格风险学生的相关缺陷进行全面评估。这项研究还将提供经过修订或新开发的程序和空间相关代数技能的认知测量，这将促进未来对代数学习的认知科学和教育研究。

项目成果

The role of domain-general attention and domain-specific processing in working memory in algebraic performance: An experimental approach.

领域一般注意力和领域特定处理在代数表现中工作记忆中的作用：一种实验方法。

• DOI: 10.1037/xlm0001117
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: and Cognition
• 作者: Ünal, Zehra Emine;Forsberg, Alicia;Geary, David C.;Cowan, Nelson
• 通讯作者: Cowan, Nelson