Previous studies have shown that children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)/Dyspraxia have poorer maths performance compared to their neurotypical (NT) counterparts. However, no studies ...have explored the cognitive and emotional factors affecting the maths performance of adults with DCD. This study, therefore, investigated the role of working memory (WM), maths anxiety (MAS), and maths self-efficacy on the maths performance of adults with DCD. We found that adults with DCD had lower WM and maths performance and were more maths anxious than their NT peers. However, there were no significant differences in maths self-efficacy. When looking at the predictors of maths performance, we found a positive relationship between WM resources and the DCD maths performance, possibly indicating that they relied more on WM resources to perform simple mental arithmetic tasks than NTs. On the other hand, MAS had an inverse relationship with the NT maths performance but not with the DCD performance. The reasons and implications of these findings will be discussed.
•Adults with DCD had lower working memory (WM) and maths performance than neurotypical (NT) peers.•Adults with DCD were more anxious about maths compared to NTs.•There were no significant differences in maths self-efficacy.•We found a positive relationship between WM resources and the DCD maths performance.•Maths anxiety (MAS) had an inverse relationship with the NT maths performance.
Maths anxiety (MA) is a debilitating negative emotional reaction towards mathematics. However, MA research in primary and early secondary school is surprisingly sparse and inconsistent. Here we ...tested primary and secondary students' maths and reading performance and their maths and general anxiety (GA). We examined gender differences, developmental changes regarding the MA/maths performance link and investigated whether MA is linked to other academic domains (reading) and/or to other anxiety-types (GA). Results revealed that girls exhibited higher MA than boys at both educational levels. Whilst there was a reliable negative correlation between MA and secondary students' arithmetic performance, no such relationship was revealed in primary students. Finally, MA was moderately correlated with GA and, when GA was partialled out, MA remained significantly correlated with secondary students' arithmetic performance. MA was not related to reading performance when GA was controlled. It was concluded that the negative MA/maths performance link surfaces later in the educational timeline and MA appears to be both exclusively related to maths and independent of GA.
•We explored MA gender differences, mapped MA developmental changes and investigated the specificity of this anxiety-type.•Girls exhibited higher MA than boys at both educational levels.•The negative relation between MA and maths performance surfaces later in the educational timeline.•MA can be considered a maths specific anxiety-type and is independent of general anxiety.
Structural Optimization is intended to supplement the engineer’s box of analysis and design tools making optimization as commonplace as the finite element method in the workplace. This book brings ...the methods of structural optimization into common usage like those of the finite element method. Providing the structural engineer with the right analysis tools and optimization tools. Drawing upon years of practical experience and using numerous examples and illustrative applications, Keith MacBain and William Spillers discuss:Structural optimization and the methods of nonlinear programming such as Lagrange multipliers, Kuhn-Tucker conditions, and calculus of variationsSolution methods for optimization problems emphasizing the classic method of linear programming and the method of sequential linear programmingUsing sequential linear programming together with the incremental equations of structures as a general approach for structural optimization.Included is a CD-ROM packed with Microsoft Excel, MATLAB®,and FORTRAN (IMSL) routines, and a DLL with linear programming capabilities that will be invaluable to readers. Structural Optimization will be of interest to structural engineers, mechanical engineers, aerospace engineers and architects, particularly those who use the finite element method and want to include optimization in their designs.
We investigated the adequacy of the conduct and possible benefits of the use of dynamic maths interviews by 19 fourth grade teachers with students showing low maths achievement to facilitate the ...identification of maths needs. This study shows the potential of an analytical framework to evaluate the adequacy and benefits of dynamic maths interviews in a more valid way by viewing relevant aspects in conjunction. The intervention consisted of a dynamic maths interview teacher professional development programme and a practice period. During this practice period the teachers conducted an interview with each individual student involved in this study. Qualitative analyses of the transcripts of the video-recorded interviews showed the conduct of the individual dynamic maths interviews to be adequate and to facilitate the identification and understanding of the educational needs of students with low maths achievement. Using dynamic maths interviews, teachers provided feedback and support that were clearly attuned to the specific maths needs of students.
The Edinburgh Maths Circles are free sessions for families, run by staff and students from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Their main aim is encouraging children to think and behave like mathematics ...researchers, as they explore open-ended questions, make their own conjectures, and explain their reasoning to others. Maths Circles started in 2016 as in-person events, with an online version created in response to the outbreak of Covid-19. To spread the initiative as widely as possible across Scotland, we have been running development workshops for over four hundred teachers and educators, and we have visited local schools and libraries. The ideas and methods of Maths Circles have moved beyond our disciplinary boundaries, as other departments at the university are planning activities based on this model. In this practice case study, we illustrate the aims and philosophy of Maths Circles, the challenges we faced, and how the initiative grew over time. We describe our work with local schools/communities, and how we adapted to Covid-19 restrictions. We also share personal experiences from researchers, university students and educators who contributed to the project. We aim to encourage colleagues to adopt a similar approach in other contexts and disciplines, and we are open to cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Preverbal infants spontaneously represent the number of objects in collections. Is this 'sense of number' (also referred to as Approximate Number System, ANS) part of the cognitive foundations of ...mathematical skills? Multiple studies reported a correlation between the ANS and mathematical achievement in children. However, some have suggested that such correlation might be mediated by general-purpose inhibitory skills. We addressed the question using a longitudinal approach: we tested the ANS of 60 12 months old infants and, when they were 4 years old (final N = 40), their symbolic math achievement as well as general intelligence and inhibitory skills. Results showed that the ANS at 12 months is a specific predictor of later maths skills independent from general intelligence or inhibitory skills. The correlation between ANS and maths persists when both abilities are measured at four years. These results confirm that the ANS has an early, specific and longstanding relation with mathematical abilities in childhood.
Children possess different levels of mathematical skills when they begin their formal education. The home environment perhaps holds the key to such disparate maths skills in children's in early ...years. The aim of this study is to examine home maths activities and mothers' maths talk as the predictors of children's maths talk and early maths skills. The home interactions of 40 preschool children (M = 56.3 months) and their mothers were audio-recorded and their maths talk were analysed. Mothers reported the frequency of their home maths activities while each child's early maths skills were assessed. Mothers' maths talk in each maths category correlated with children's maths talk. Unlike home maths activities, mothers' maths talk predicted the children's maths talk. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that home maths activities and mothers' maths talk were important predictors of children's early maths skills. Findings confirmed the significance of maternal support, including home activities and maths talk, in children's maths development.
This study aims to examine whether a maths-unrelated reading intervention can improve children's mathematical performance and to compare the effects of maths-related and maths-unrelated reading ...interventions. Furthermore, this study examines whether the effects of reading interventions are moderated by individual differences, including gender, pre-test maths performance and general cognitive ability. One hundred thirty-four second-grade Chinese children were recruited into three different groups. In the control group, the children received business as usual teaching, while in the two experimental groups, the children received a maths-related or maths-unrelated reading intervention. The results showed that the maths-unrelated reading intervention could significantly improve children's mathematical performance, and the beneficial effect did not differ from the maths-related intervention. Moreover, the effects of the two reading interventions were not moderated by children's individual differences. These findings support the function hypothesis of language for mathematics.
