Predicting Persistence and Fadeout Across Multi-Site RCTs of an Early Childhood Mathematics Curriculum Intervention

Contents: Part I:Overview. L.P. Steffe, Action Group A1: Early Childhood Years. Part II:Epistemological Chapters. H. Sinclair, Learning the Interactive Recreation of Knowledge. E. von Glasersfeld, Environment and Communication. Part III:Knowledge and Learning Elaboration Chapters. J. Leino, Knowledge and Learning in Mathematics. R.W. Lawler, Constructing Knowledge from Interactions. F. Marton, D. Neuman, Constructivism, Phenomenology and the Origin of Arithmetic Skills. Discussion Chapters--Learning. B. Denvir, Children Learning Mathematics. J. Ainley, Playing Games and Learning Mathematics. P.F. Campbell, Young Children's Concept of Measure. K. Yokochi, Some Aspects of Learning Geometry. Discussion Chapters-Knowledge. G. Wheatley, H. Bebout, Mathematical Knowledge of Young Learners. C.T. Fosnot, Possibility, Necessity, Contradiction, and Probability: Implications for Mathematics Education. J.C. Bergeron, N. Herscovics, Kindergartners' Knowledge of the Preconcepts of Number. T.N. Carraher, A.D. Schliemann, Knowledge of the Numeration System Among Pre-Schoolers. J. Ishida, An Analysis of First-Grade Children's Writing Number Sentences in Solving Word Problems. G. Boulton-Lewis, Young Children's Thinking Strategies and Levels of Capacity to Process Mathematical Information. G. Wheatley, P. Cobb, Analysis of Young Children's Spatial Constructions. L. English, Children's Competence in Forming Combinations. M.A. Clements, G. Del Campo, How Natural is Fraction Knowledge? Part IV:Communication-Elaboration Chapters. F. Lowenthal, Communication in Early Childhood. P. Cobb, Multiple Perspectives. J. Easley, H. Taylor, Conceptual Splatter in Peer Dialogues in Selected Japanese and U.S. First Grade Mathematics Classes. Discussion Chapters - Actual Communication. M. Stephens, Communication in the Mathematics Classroom. B. Wright, Interactive Communication: Constraints and Possibilities. T. Wood, E. Yackel, The Development of Collaborative Dialogue Within Small Group Interactions. M. Lampert, Connecting Inventions with Conventions. N. Nohda, Actual Communication in the Mathematical Classroom. J. Weissglass, J. Mumme, B. Cranin, Fostering Mathematical Communication: Helping Teachers Help Students. Discussion Chapters -- Possible Communication. G. Stanic, Reconstructing Constructivism. J. Bliss, The Nature of Communication in Early Childhood in the Contexts of Home and School. M.B. Bussi, Learning Situations and Experiential Domains Relevant to Early Childhood Mathematics Education. Part V:Environment Elaboration Chapters. R.O. Ohuche, Early Childhood Mathematics and the Environment. T.E. Kieren, Children's Mathematics/Mathematics for Children. L. Burton, What Could Teacher Education Be Like for Prospective Teachers of Early Childhood Mathematics -- With Particular References to the Environment. Discussion Chapters -- Mathematics Curriculum. N. Pateman, D.C. Johnson, Curriculum and Constructivism in Early Childhood Mathematics: Source of Tension and Possible Resolutions. H. Pengelly, Mathematical Learning Beyond the Activity. M. Sumio, Notes on Early Mathematical Experiences. H. Mansfield, The Role of the Teacher in Early Childhood Mathematics. L.P. Steffe, Mathematics Curriculum Design: A Constructivist's Perspective. Discussion Chapters -- Teacher Education. N. James, R. Underhill, Constructivism and Teacher Education for Teachers of Early Childhood Mathematics. L. Hatfield, Preparing Early Childhood Teachers for Construc- tive Mathematical Environments. D. Tirosh, Improving Prospective Early Childhood Teachers Content Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Mathematics. B. D'Ambrosio, Some Problems with Problem Solving: A Brazilian Teacher-Perspective. S. Yoshikawa, Construction of Mathematics Using Comparison and Examination of Children's Mathematical Thinking. N. Reeves, Action Research for Professional Development: Informing Teachers and Researchers. Part VI:Conclusion Survey Chapter. B. Perry, Cultural Perspectives on Success in Early Childhood Mathematics.

To summarize current evidence for early identification and motor-based intervention for children aged 5 years and younger of age with/at risk of developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Using scoping review methodology, we independently screened over 11 000 articles and selected those that met inclusion criteria. Of the 103 included articles, 78 articles were related to early identification and are summarized in a companion article. Twenty-two articles focused on early intervention, with an additional three articles covering both early identification and intervention. Most intervention studies were at a low level of evidence, but provide encouraging evidence that early intervention is beneficial for young children with/at risk of DCD. Direct intervention can be provided to whole classes, small groups, or individuals according to a tiers of service delivery model. Educating and building the capacity of parents and early childhood educators are also key elements of early intervention. Evidence for early intervention for children with/at risk of DCD is emerging with promising results. Further studies are needed to determine best practice for early intervention and whether intervening early can prevent the negative developmental trajectory and secondary psychosocial consequences associated with DCD.

This study examines the effects of focused instructional strategies on young children’s conceptual growth in mathematical reasoning and explores how early numeracy abilities influence later mathematical achievement and broader cognitive development. Drawing on empirical research from diverse educational settings, it compares traditional instruction and play-based learning (PBL), both of which are shown to support the development of early arithmetic skills, with particular attention to student engagement, cognitive growth, and numeracy competence. The review analyzes how early mathematical skills, such as number sense, spatial reasoning, and problem-solving—shape academic performance into adolescence and discusses the roles of play-based learning, technology-enhanced approaches, and structured instruction in fostering these foundational concepts. Employing a qualitative approach, the study synthesizes relevant literature on cognitive readiness, early childhood mathematics development, instructional and play-based interventions, and conceptual growth in early mathematics, as well as the longitudinal impact of early childhood mathematics on later academic outcomes. Overall, the findings underscore early intervention as a critical foundation for early childhood mathematics learning and highlight the need for carefully designed pedagogical strategies that integrate play, explicit instruction, and rich learning environments to optimize young children’s mathematical and cognitive development.

This study investigated the effect of gamification on student engagement and achievement in mathematics education. It was guided by two research questions: what is the overall effect of gamification on students’ engagement and academic achievement in mathematics, and do study characteristics such as educational level moderate the effect of gamification? The following hypotheses were tested: : gamification has no significant effect on students’ achievement in mathematics education, and : gamification has a significant effect on students’ achievement in mathematics education. A quantitative meta-analytic research design was employed using the PRISMA 2020 framework to ensure systematic study identification and selection. The population of the study consisted of published and unpublished empirical studies on gamification in mathematics education between 2010 and 2025. A purposive sampling technique was applied to identify eligible studies, resulting in a final sample of 41 studies comprising 54 independent effect sizes, representing a total of 6,087 learners from primary, secondary and higher education settings. A structured coding sheet was used for data extraction, and intercoder reliability was confirmed using Cohen’s Kappa ( ), indicating a high concurrence. Effect sizes were calculated using Hedges’ and both fixed-effect and random-effects models were applied. Heterogeneity was assessed using Cochran’s and statistics, while potential publication bias was examined using funnel plot analysis and Egger’s regression test. The random-effects model produced a significant overall effect size of (95% CI [0.46, 0.85], ), indicating that gamification has a moderate positive effect on mathematics learning outcomes. The study concludes that gamification is an effective strategy for enhancing student engagement and achievement in mathematics. However, its impact varies depending on the quality of implementation and other factors. It is therefore recommended that mathematics educators adopt gamification approaches that promote intrinsic motivation and that teacher training programmes incorporate guidance on the effective integration of gamified learning. Future research should explore long-term effects influencing the success of gamification in mathematics education.

Movement and Song Idiom Traditional to Enhance Early Mathematical Skills: Gelantram Audio-visual Learning Media

The effectiveness of teaching strategies in improving student achievement in mathematics has been a topic of ongoing research. In Kosovo, vocational schools, especially those with an economics focus, face challenges in student engagement and achievement in mathematics, particularly in solving contextual problems related to economics. This study examines the impact of contextual teaching and learning (CTL) on students’ mathematical problem-solving skills in economics, as well as students’ attitudes toward this approach. This action research study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pre-/post-test approach. The research was conducted at the vocational high school “Andrea Durrsaku” in Kamenica, with 40 twelfth-grade students enrolled in the department of economics. The intervention lasted for six weeks, during which students engaged in problem-solving tasks related to economics using the modified CEICT (connection, experience, implementation, collaboration, transfer) model. Data collection included a pre-test, post-test, and a questionnaire with open-ended questions to measure students’ attitudes toward the contextual approach. Results from the pre- and post-test indicated significant improvement in student achievement, particularly in solving contextual problems in economics. Students demonstrated better problem-solving skills after the six-week intervention. Additionally, the majority of students reported positive attitudes toward CTL, appreciating their relevance to real-life situations and their collaborative nature. The findings suggest that CTL significantly enhances student achievement in mathematics, particularly in the context of economics, by making learning more relevant and interactive. Students’ positive attitudes toward this approach highlight its potential to foster deeper engagement and understanding. This research underscores the importance of integrating contextual learning strategies into vocational education to improve outcomes and better prepare students for real-world challenges.

Understanding the low mathematics achievement of Chilean students: A cross-national analysis using TIMSS data

Differentes recherches ont etabli l'influence des enseignants sur la qualite de l'apprentissage des enfants. La question est de savoir ce qui rend un enseignant plus performant qu'un autre. Quatre indicateurs, etudies par les AA., peuvent etre utilises dans ce but : les acquisitions pedagogiques des enseignants, leurs participations dans les programmes d'etudes, leurs connaissances des matieres enseignees et leurs strategies pedagogiques

This paper considers the main results and some educational implications of the TIMSS 2003 assessment conducted in Serbia, in the fields of mathematics achievement of Serbian eighth grade students and the mathematics curriculum context of their achievement. It was confirmed that Serbian eighth graders have made average scale score of 477 points, and with this achievement they are placed in the zone of intermediate international benchmarking level. The average mathematics achievement of the Serbian eighth graders is somewhat above the average international mathematics achievement. The best result was achieved in the content domain of "algebra", and the lower result in the content domains of "measurement" and "data". In the defined cognitive domains the Serbian students have achieved the best results in "solving routine problems" and "knowing facts and procedures", and the weaker result in "reasoning". Statistically significant difference was found in the mathematics achievement between girls and boys in the Serbian TIMSS 2003 sample, so the girls? average scale score was 480 points and the same value for the boys was 473 points. The achieved results raise many questions about the contents of mathematics curriculum in Serbia, its quality and basic characteristics of its implementation. These results can be eligibly used to improve the mathematics curriculum and teaching in Serbian primary school.

<p>Existing research consistently identifies large differences in mathematics achievement between students from high and low socioeconomic status backgrounds. The link between socioeconomic status and student achievement has been repeatedly acknowledged throughout the literature, but reasons for this link are not yet fully understood. This study builds on existing international research, which identifies a large number of potential key influences for the disparity in mathematics achievement. The aim of this study was to identify which of the potentially key influences were possibly influencing student mathematics achievement in a high and a low decile New Zealand primary school, thereby suggesting ways to improve student mathematics achievement in the low decile school. Often, changes within education, including in many intervention programmes, are generic, made without identifying the specific needs of an individual school and its students. The tools developed during this research were designed to be used in schools, allowing evidence-based needs to be identified, and any changes made to be targeted at the specific needs of the school and its students. This research was conceived within a qualitative paradigm, and followed a collective case study design, focusing on two case schools, a high decile school (Pīwakawaka School), and a low decile school (Whio School). Data were collected through classroom observations, archival records, interviews, questionnaires, and physical artefacts, using tools specifically designed for this study. The data were analysed using grounded theory, allowing theories to emerge from the data. The data collected from each school were compared and two theories emerged. The first theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to be doing a greater amount of mathematics than students in the low decile school. The second theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to have more opportunities to learn new mathematics than students in the low decile school. Additionally, the findings suggested that, due to the complex nature of teaching, there was more than one key influence on student mathematics achievement contributing to each of these emergent theories. This research suggests that teachers at Whio School may be able to improve student achievement in mathematics by increasing both the amount of mathematics students interact with and the number of opportunities to learn new mathematics their students receive.</p>

<p>Existing research consistently identifies large differences in mathematics achievement between students from high and low socioeconomic status backgrounds. The link between socioeconomic status and student achievement has been repeatedly acknowledged throughout the literature, but reasons for this link are not yet fully understood. This study builds on existing international research, which identifies a large number of potential key influences for the disparity in mathematics achievement. The aim of this study was to identify which of the potentially key influences were possibly influencing student mathematics achievement in a high and a low decile New Zealand primary school, thereby suggesting ways to improve student mathematics achievement in the low decile school. Often, changes within education, including in many intervention programmes, are generic, made without identifying the specific needs of an individual school and its students. The tools developed during this research were designed to be used in schools, allowing evidence-based needs to be identified, and any changes made to be targeted at the specific needs of the school and its students. This research was conceived within a qualitative paradigm, and followed a collective case study design, focusing on two case schools, a high decile school (Pīwakawaka School), and a low decile school (Whio School). Data were collected through classroom observations, archival records, interviews, questionnaires, and physical artefacts, using tools specifically designed for this study. The data were analysed using grounded theory, allowing theories to emerge from the data. The data collected from each school were compared and two theories emerged. The first theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to be doing a greater amount of mathematics than students in the low decile school. The second theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to have more opportunities to learn new mathematics than students in the low decile school. Additionally, the findings suggested that, due to the complex nature of teaching, there was more than one key influence on student mathematics achievement contributing to each of these emergent theories. This research suggests that teachers at Whio School may be able to improve student achievement in mathematics by increasing both the amount of mathematics students interact with and the number of opportunities to learn new mathematics their students receive.</p>

Early number skills, comprised of both informal and formal skills, are associated with later mathematics achievement. Thus, the development of foundational early number skills is an important aspect of early mathematics instruction. This study explored relations between early number skills gains and mathematics achievement for students at risk for mathematics difficulties in a kindergarten intervention study. Results indicated strong relationships between formal number skills gains and mathematics achievement across kindergarten and Grade 1. Intervention participants demonstrated larger informal and formal early number skills gains compared with their control peers, and relations between early number skills gains and first-grade mathematics achievement were moderated by intervention participation. Importantly, these findings suggest that formal and informal number skills gains may be critical components of later mathematics achievement for at-risk students. Implications for special education and intervention in tiered instructional systems are discussed.

The study examined effect of constructivist strategy on students Achievement in Senior Secondary Mathematics in Rivers State. The research was guided by three research questions and corresponding hypotheses. The population is all the thirty four thousand, one hundred and sixty eight (34,168) of all Senior secondary II (SS11) students in Rivers State during the 2018/2019 Academic year. A sample size of 280 students in four intact classes were selected through purposive sampling technique. Two of each of the classes were used as experimental and control groups. Non randomized pre-test, post test control group design was used for the study. Instrument used for the study was Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) made up of 25 items drawn from simple statistics and Lesson Packages. The instrument was validated by experts and reliability coefficient of the instrument was obtained through test-retest method. The scores obtained were subjected to Pearson product moment correlation coefficient analysis and the result yielded 0.82. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), Mean and Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) were used in analyzing the data. Findings reveals that constructivist strategy was more effective in facilitating students achievement in Mathematics than expository method. The result did not show a significant difference in students’ achievement in Mathematics in terms of gender and school type. The study therefore recommended among others the use of constructivist strategy in the teaching and learning of Mathematics in schools.

This study investigates the influence of peer pressure, time management, and self-efficacy on students’ achievement in mathematics in Oyo Metropolis of Oyo state, Nigeria. The study adopts a descriptive survey. A simple random sampling technique was used to select four hundred (400) senior secondary school II students in sixteen (16) secondary schools in the metropolis consisting of four local governments: Afijio, Atiba, Oyo East, and Oyo West Local Government Areas. Three (3) validated instruments were used for the study. Data analysis was done using frequency count, Percentage, Standard Deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and Multiple Regression Analysis. The result shows that there is a negative, weak non-significant relationship between peer pressure and students’ achievement in mathematics; there is a positive, weak significant relationship between time management and students’ achievement in mathematics. Also, there is a significant positive relationship between self-efficiency and students’ achievement in mathematics. The finding also reveals that the composite contribution of peer pressure, time management, and self-efficacy to the predictor of students’ achievement in mathematics is significant. The relative contribution of peer pressure to students’ achievement in mathematics is not significant but the relative contribution of time management and self-efficacy to students achievement in mathematics is significant. The data shows that the variables that predict students’ achievement in mathematics are time management and self-efficacy. Based on the result, it was recommended that Mathematics teachers should find ways of enhancing Mathematics Self-Efficacy in student’ and emphasize students’ confidence to succeed in the subject.

Climate change refers to variations in the weather pattern of a place over some time, which may lead to flooding, drought, or wildfire. In the River Niger Basin of the South-South Zone of Nigeria, climate change has resulted in flooding, which led to disruption in communication, commerce, economy, agriculture, and education. It also resulted in an interruption in academic activities in schools and thereafter, the consequential implication on the academic achievement of students which followed. This paper is a report of a causal-comparative or ex-post factor research into the effect of flooding on the achievement of secondary school students in mathematics in Ogba, Egbema, and Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Ten out of twenty-seven secondary schools were randomly sampled for the study. Five hundred students in their Senior Secondary Class Two (SS2) were randomly selected for the study. This comprised 250 boys and 250 girls. Fifty students (25 boys and 25 girls) were randomly selected from each of the ten schools. The students’ examination results used for the study for three terms were collected from the examination result master sheets and their achievement scores in mathematics were extracted and used for the analysis. The findings revealed that there exist significant differences in the achievement in mathematics of the students before, during, and after flooding. The data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Scheffe’s test and t-test. The result shows that achievement in mathematics was higher before and after flooding than during the flooding. The effect of climate change (flooding) on gender and achievement in mathematics was also studied. It was discovered that the gender gap in mathematics achievement of secondary school students widened during the flooding. This indicated that the effects of climate change on girls are worse than on boys educationally. The use of palliative to mitigate the effect of climate change–flooding, on the achievement of students in mathematics and, most importantly, the achievement of the girl child is recommended.