ERIC Number: EJ1297873
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-May
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0663
EISSN: N/A
In-Class Attention, Spatial Ability, and Mathematics Anxiety Predict Across-Grade Gains in Adolescents' Mathematics Achievement
Journal of Educational Psychology, v113 n4 p754-769 May 2021
Identifying meaningful cognitive and noncognitive predictors of mathematical competence is critical for developing targeted interventions for students struggling with mathematics. Here, 317 students' short-term verbal memory, verbal and visuospatial working memory, complexspatial abilities, intelligence, and mathematics attitudes and anxiety were assessed, and their teachers reported on their attentive behavior in 7th-grade mathematics classrooms. Bayesian regression models revealed that complex spatial abilities and in-class attention were the most plausible predictors of 7th-grade mathematics, but not word reading achievement, controlling for prior mathematics achievement. These results were confirmed with multilevel models that revealed interactions between these factors and prior achievement. The largest gains were among students with strong mathematical competencies in 6th grade, and average or better in-class attention in 7th grade as well as above average spatial abilities. High mathematics anxiety was associated with lower attention and through this indirectly influenced achievement gains. These results have implications for how to best target interventions for students at risk for long-term difficulties with mathematics.
Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Mathematics Anxiety, Mathematics Achievement, Predictor Variables, Grade 7, Attention, Spatial Ability, Short Term Memory, Intelligence, Student Attitudes, Grade 6, Mathematics Skills, Middle School Students
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 7; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Grade 6; Intermediate Grades
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Missouri
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence; Wechsler Individual Achievement Test
Grant or Contract Numbers: R01HD087231; DRL1659133