Background: Gross motor movement is a vital part of the growing process and ultimately plays a role in a person's ability to lead a physically active life. Researchers have analyzed the different ways in which individuals develop skills. At the heart of that discussion has been gender. Most recently, researchers have focused on the differences…

Complex surveys are often used to estimate causal effects regarding the effects of interventions or exposures of interest. Propensity scores (Rosenbaum & Rubin, 1983) have emerged as one popular and effective tool for causal inference in non-experimental studies, as they can help ensure that groups being compared are similar with respect to a…

Identifying change at the individual level is an important goal for researchers, educators, and clinicians. We present a set of statistical procedures for identifying individuals who depart from a normative change. Using Latent Change Scores models (LCS), we illustrate how the Individual Likelihood computed from a statistical model for change…

Representations of numerical value have been assessed by using bounded (e.g., 0-1,000) and unbounded (e.g., 0-?) number-line tasks, with considerable debate regarding whether 1 or both tasks elicit unique cognitive strategies (e.g., addition or subtraction) and require unique cognitive models. To test this, we examined how well a mixed log-linear…

In a series of 3 experiments, the authors investigated the influence of symmetry of variables on children's and adults' data interpretation. They hypothesized that symmetrical (i.e., present/present) variables would support correct interpretations more than asymmetrical (i.e., present/absent) variables. Participants were asked to judge covariation…

Whether and to what extent kindergarten children's executive functions (EF) constitute promising targets of early intervention is currently unclear. This study examined whether kindergarten children's EF predicted their second-grade academic achievement and behavior. This was done using (a) a longitudinal and nationally representative sample (N =…

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of phonotactic probability (PP) and neighbourhood density (ND) on pseudoword learning in 17 Dutch-speaking typically developing children (mean age 7;2). They were familiarized with 16 one-syllable pseudowords varying in PP (high vs low) and ND (high vs low) via a storytelling procedure. The…

A total of 114 3rd- and 6th-graders from a suburban elementary school participated in a study examining the influence of implicit self-theories on rated creativity in the domains of art and literature in a quasi-experiment. Creativity was measured via the Consensual Assessment Technique. Participants were divided into two groups and received…

Background: There is an increased focus on randomized trials for proximal behavioral outcomes in early childhood research. However, planning sample sizes for such designs requires extant information on the size of effect, variance decomposition, and effectiveness of covariates. Objectives: The purpose of this article is to employ a recent large…

Background: Even infants can recognize whether patterns of motion are or are not natural, yet an acknowledged challenge for science education is to promote adequate reasoning about such patterns. Since research indicates linkage between the conceptual bases of recognition and reasoning, it seems possible that recognition can be engaged to support…

The present study examined the developmental change in number and length acuities and their respective relationship with achievement in various domains of mathematics in second vs. fourth graders. Length acuity was measured with a comparison task, in which participants were asked to choose the longer between a pair of lines. Number acuity was…

Whether and to what extent kindergarten children's executive functions (EF) constitute promising targets of early intervention is currently unclear. This study examined whether kindergarten children's EF predicted their second-grade academic achievement and behavior. This was done using (a) a longitudinal and nationally representative sample (N =…

Studies using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K:1999) revealed gender gaps in mathematics achievement and teacher perceptions. However, recent evidence suggests that gender gaps have closed on state tests, raising the question of whether such gaps are absent in the ECLS-K:2011 cohort.…

Integrating physical activity into the curriculum has potential health and cognitive benefits in primary school children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of physically active academic lessons on cardiovascular fitness, muscular fitness and executive functions. In the current randomized controlled trial, 499 second and third…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the attitudes of parents of normal hearing (NH) children towards the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children in the educational setting of their child. In particular, it examined the effect of parental socio economic status (SES) and exposure to inclusion (whether their child was in a class…