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

该项目由马里兰大学和加州大学欧文分校的研究人员合作开展，将使用新开发的平板电脑游戏测试培训活动对提高低收入背景幼儿园儿童数学成绩的好处。来自不同社会经济背景的儿童在数学熟练程度上的差距在儿童进入小学之前就存在了，并在上学过程中逐渐扩大。重要的是，这些早期在数学知识上的差异预测了数学学习和成绩的增长速度，直到高中。研究人员将检查儿童的数字知识和工作记忆的改善情况。该项目由EHR核心研究项目资助，该项目支持推进STEM学习研究文献的基础研究。该项目研究了旨在提高儿童数字知识（特定领域技能）或工作记忆（一般领域技能）的干预措施如何促进他们的数学成就。干预措施包括在几个疗程中在平板电脑上玩类似游戏的活动。该计划的重点将放在低收入家庭的孩子身上，这些孩子由于早期数学技能和工作记忆能力方面的缺陷，最有可能出现学习成绩不佳的情况。具体而言，该项目将1)通过单独以数字知识或工作记忆为目标，研究低收入儿童在概念和程序数字知识（领域特定技能）以及工作记忆和执行控制（领域一般技能）方面的改善；2)研究领域特定和领域一般方法相结合的附加效应。3)在训练结束几个月后，通过随访测试参与者来检验任何影响的持久性；4)检验训练活动益处的个体差异，以确定先前存在的能力是否介导和调节训练结果，并检验特定干预措施是否对某一亚群儿童比其他亚群更有益。这些发现将揭示数学技能发展的潜在机制，并促进该领域对不同认知系统如何受到特定干预的差异影响的理解。这一知识对以证据为基础的干预措施的制定和实施具有重要意义。

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.