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

这个项目是马里兰大学和加州大学欧文分校的研究人员合作的，将测试培训活动的好处，以提高来自低收入背景的幼儿园儿童使用新开发的平板电脑游戏的数学成绩。来自不同社会经济背景的儿童之间的数学水平差距在儿童进入小学之前就已经存在，并在学校教育过程中逐渐扩大。重要的是，这些早期的数学知识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数字知识的改善以及工作记忆的改善。该项目由EHR核心研究计划资助，该计划支持促进STEM学习研究文献的基础研究。该项目研究旨在提高儿童数字知识(领域特定技能)或工作记忆(领域通用技能)的干预措施如何促进他们的数学成就。这些干预措施将包括在几个疗程中在平板电脑上进行类似游戏的活动。主要关注的将是来自低收入家庭的儿童，他们由于早期数学技能和工作记忆能力的不足，学习成绩差的风险最大。具体而言，该项目将1)通过孤立地针对数字知识或工作记忆，考察低收入儿童概念和程序性数字知识(领域特有技能)以及工作记忆和执行控制(领域一般技能)的改善情况；2)考察特定领域和一般领域相结合的方法的相加效应；3)考察培训结束几个月后跟踪测试参与者所产生的任何影响的持久性；4)考察培训活动效益的个体差异，以确定预先存在的能力是否会影响到中等程度的培训结果，并检查具体的干预措施是否比其他干预措施更有利于某一儿童群体。这些发现应该有助于阐明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不同影响的理解。这一知识对循证干预措施的发展和实施具有影响。

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.