Abstract
Student academic achievement has been positively related to further development outcomes, such as the attainment of higher educational, employment, and socioeconomic aspirations. Among all the academic competences, mathematics has been identified as an essential skill in the field of international leadership as well as for those seeking positions in disciplines related to science, technology, and engineering. Given its positive consequences, studies have designed trainings to enhance children's mathematical skills. Additionally, the ability to regulate and control actions and cognitions, i.e., executive functions (EF), has been associated with school success, which has resulted in a strong effort to develop EF training programs to improve students' EF and academic achievement. The present study examined the efficacy of a school computer-based training composed of two components, namely, working memory and mathematics tasks. Among the advantages of using a computer-based training program is the ease with which it can be implemented in school settings and the ease by which the difficulty of the tasks can be adapted to fit the child's ability level. To test the effects of the training, children's cognitive skills (EF and IQ) and their school achievement (math and language grades and abilities) were evaluated. The results revealed a significant improvement in cognitive skills, such as non-verbal IQ and inhibition, and better school performance in math and reading among the children who participated in the training compared to those children who did not. Most of the improvements were related to training on WM tasks. These findings confirmed the efficacy of a computer-based training that combined WM and mathematics activities as part of the school routines based on the training's impact on children's academic competences and cognitive skills.
Highlights
Student academic achievement plays a central role in future development outcomes, such as later achievements and educational aspirations (Marjoribanks, 2005), employment goals (Caspi et al, 1998), and socioeconomic success (Guglielmi, 2008)
Mathematics has been identified as an essential skill for international leadership as well as for disciplines related to science, technology, and engineering (Jordan et al, 2010)
Most of the training programs have exhibited near transfer effects, but they have often failed to prove far transfer effects that are highly related to school success, such as IQ or school grades (Melby-Lervag and Hulme, 2013; Sala and Gobet, 2017)
Summary
Student academic achievement plays a central role in future development outcomes, such as later achievements and educational aspirations (Marjoribanks, 2005), employment goals (Caspi et al, 1998), and socioeconomic success (Guglielmi, 2008). Executive functions (EF) have been related to positive school functioning (Clair-Thompson and Gathercole, 2006; Riggs et al, 2006; Brock et al, 2009; Razza and Blair, 2009; Best et al, 2011), which has resulted in a strong effort to develop EF training programs to improve students’ skills and academic achievement (Wong, 2008; Thorell et al, 2009; Goldin et al, 2014; Söderqvist and Bergman-Nutley, 2015; Studer-Luethi et al, 2015; Traverso et al, 2015). Interventions have usually required trained professionals, changes in the scholastic curriculum, or lab-like environments. These characteristics decrease the possibility of effectively embedding the training tasks into the students’ academic routines. To assess the efficacy of the training, we considered the effects on a sample of school-age students’ cognitive skills (EF and IQ), math and reading abilities as measured by standardized tests and school achievement as measured by math and language grades
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