Math Intervention Research Articles

The Effects of a Math Intervention Identified During a Brief Experimental Analysis for Middle-School Students

The Effects of a Math Intervention Identified During a Brief Experimental Analysis for Middle-School Students

Math Abilities Among Children with Neurodevelopmental Difficulties: Understanding Cognitive Factors and Evaluating a Pilot Intervention.

Math development in children relies on several underlying cognitive functions, including executive functions (EF), working memory (WM), and visual-motor abilities, such as visual-motor integration (VMI). Understanding how these cognitive factors contribute to children's math performance is critical to supporting math learning and long-term math success. The present quasi-experimental waitlist control study (N = 28) aimed to (a) examine the unique contributions of EF, WM, and VMI to math abilities among children ages 5-8 years old with neurodevelopmental difficulties; (b) determine whether a math intervention (the Mathematics Interactive Learning Experience; MILE) that supports these cognitive processes was effective when modified to be delivered to small groups in a school setting, and (c) examine whether any participant characteristics, such as age or IQ, were correlated with post-intervention math score changes. At baseline, participants' math scores were significantly below the normative mean in all math content areas (ps < .01). EF, WM, and VMI were highly correlated with math ability; however, verbal WM was the only unique predictor of math ability in regressions analysis. Compared to a waitlist control group, children in the immediate MILE intervention group achieved significantly greater math gains overall. When all children who ultimately completed the intervention were considered together, significant improvement was observed in more than half of math content areas. Furthermore, at the individual level, 85.7% of participants showed reliable change in at least one math content area. Implications for supporting math learning in children with neurodevelopmental difficulties are discussed.

Investigating measurement of the home learning environment in early math intervention studies

Investigating measurement of the home learning environment in early math intervention studies

There’s a Thin Line Between Numerators and Denominators: Addressing Academic and Behavioral Needs of Students With EBD Using SRSD Fractions

Fractions are an imperative skill for students to master to achieve success in future mathematics concepts and classes. Yet many students, especially those experiencing math difficulties and/or characteristics of emotional and behavioral disorders, continue to exit elementary school without a concrete foundation of fractions skills required to successfully transition into higher level math courses. In this article, we present an overview of SRSD Fractions, a strategy instructional framework to teach adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. We highlight the benefits of using the framework to promote student engagement and skill mastery and identify free-access resources for educators to successfully implement the math intervention in their own classrooms.

Item Analysis of Math-Up Skills Test (MUST) Questions After an Early Math Intervention: Student Performance in General Chemistry as a Function of Various Arithmetic Categories

Item Analysis of Math-Up Skills Test (MUST) Questions After an Early Math Intervention: Student Performance in General Chemistry as a Function of Various Arithmetic Categories

Time constraint and error corrections contribute to the increase of hand postural tremor during mental calculation

PurposeHand postural physiological tremor increases during arithmetic computation. The present work aims at investigating whether this could be attributed to a raise in stress for having to provide a correct answer within a constrained period of time, or to voice vibration for having to speak to report the answer. MethodsIn 16 participants tremor was recorded by using a 3-axial accelerometer during 5 min of a hand postural task performed simultaneously while: 1) subtracting 13 from a 3-digit number within 4 s and with mistakes correction (intervention: math stress task), 2) same as for the “intervention task” but without time limit and mistakes correction (intervention: math nonstress task), 3) adding 1 to a 3-digit number (intervention: voice vibration task), and 4) only postural task while keeping quiet (control task). Electromyographic (EMG) activity from the extensor carpi radialis was measured during the hand postural task. ResultsCompared to control, tremor increased during both math interventions (+30.9 % p = 0.002, math stress; +15.0 % p = 0.01, math nonstress), but not during the voice vibration task (+12.2 % p = 0.239). During the math stress trial tremor was greater compared to both the voice vibration trial (+21.0 % p = 0.021), and the math nonstress trial (+13.5 % p = 0.01). EMG activity was not affected. ConclusionThe results suggest that during arithmetic computation the “stress component” contributes only partially to the observed increase in hand postural tremor, and that this increase cannot be attributed to voice vibrations.

Collaborative Planning: The Critical Foundation for Successful Math Interventions

In this article, we illustrate how mathematics and special education teachers can collaboratively plan together to differentiate mathematics instruction for students with exceptionalities. We describe a structured, collaborative planning protocol that is the first phase of a Mathematics-Specific Consultation for Students with Exceptionalities (MSC-SE). Using the exemplar triad of a third-grade mathematics teacher, a special education resource teacher, and a third-grade student diagnosed with Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), we show what this planning looks like for the specific content area of fractions. We highlight how these teachers, in collaboration with the student, work together purposefully to understand what her strengths are, why she is having difficulty, and what mathematics-related supports she needs. Within this context, we discuss how the two teachers develop a mathematics instructional hypothesis that provides them a focused and informed foundation for developing an individualized instruction/intervention plan for their student.

Effects of a Math Single-Case Intervention on Word Problem-Solving in Students With Learning Disabilities and Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Word problem-solving is one major area in mathematics that has been identified as being particularly challenging for students, specifically for those with learning disabilities (LDs) and emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). This study aims at evaluating the effects of a strategic math intervention with concept maps on the ability to solve word problems (addition and subtraction problems, number range of thousand) among students with LDs and EBD from the eighth grade. A multiple-baseline design across participants ( N = 9) was applied to evaluate the intervention, which was held three times a week over a 6-week period. Overall, the results demonstrated a functional relation between the amount of correctly solved word problem tasks and the intervention. All nine students improved in word problem-solving, as evidenced by the fact that more tasks were solved, with a higher score in the intervention phase compared with the baseline (between-case standardized mean difference was 1.84; 95% confidence interval [1.24, 2.44]). The social validity data display that all students found the intervention helpful but also partly exhausting. The limitations and implications of this study are discussed.

Buckets of fun: Impacts of fraction ball activities on students' math-related emotions

Rational number learning can cause frustration and negative emotions for elementary school students. Fraction Ball, a play-based math intervention, allows students to actively learn rational numbers through engaging and interactive activities. Based on a cluster-randomized trial with 16 teachers and 360 students, our pre-registered analyses showed moderate positive impacts of Fraction Ball on overall students' self-reported math-related emotions. Exploratory analyses indicated that students with higher negative emotions at pretest showed larger experimental impacts on decreasing negative emotions at posttest. Finally, we found that Fraction Ball evidenced no trade-off between rational number learning and emotional outcomes at the classroom block level, indicating that positive learning gains in rational number skills were associated with increases in positive emotions and decreases in negative emotions.

Attention to the integration of literacy: A systematic review of early math interventions in informal learning environments

AbstractLinks between the development of early literacy and math skills are well documented. This systematic review focuses on how literacy is incorporated into informal math intervention studies for children in preschool to third grade, which has implications for researchers and those training caregivers to support their children at home. We reviewed 51 experimental or quasi‐experimental studies published from 1981 to 2021 that investigated the effectiveness of math interventions in informal learning environments with a caregiver interventionist. Findings revealed that 100% of studies included literacy in some way. We also investigated what types of literacy activities were integrated, how literacy was a part of data sources collected, and in what ways literacy was mentioned explicitly by authors in research reports. The most common literacy activity was speaking and listening, and the most frequently included literacy data source was standardized literacy achievement measures. Finally, researchers in the included studies did not detail literacy throughout their research reports. While early math interventions often integrate literacy, the research base including math interventions would benefit from more explicit rationales for their use of literacy, and caregivers should be provided information to help understand how literacy should be a part of the way they work with their child on math at home.

Executive functions-based reading training engages the cingulo-opercular and dorsal attention networks.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a computerized executive functions (EFs)-based reading intervention on neural circuits supporting EFs and visual attention. Seed-to-voxel functional connectivity analysis was conducted focusing on large-scale attention system brain networks, during an fMRI reading fluency task. Participants were 8- to 12-year-old English-speaking children with dyslexia (n = 43) and typical readers (n = 36) trained on an EFs-based reading training (n = 40) versus math training (n = 39). Training duration was 8 weeks. After the EFs-based reading intervention, children with dyslexia improved their scores in reading rate and visual attention (compared to math intervention). Neurobiologically, children with dyslexia displayed an increase in functional connectivity strength after the intervention between the cingulo-opercular network and occipital and precentral regions. Noteworthy, the functional connectivity indices between these brain regions showed a positive correlation with speed of processing and visual attention scores in both pretest and posttest. The results suggest that reading improvement following an EFs-based reading intervention involves neuroplastic connectivity changes in brain areas related to EFs and primary visual processing in children with dyslexia. Our results highlight the need for training underlying cognitive abilities supporting reading, such as EFs and visual attention, in order to enhance reading abilities in dyslexia.

A systematic literature review of math interventions across educational settings from early childhood education to high school

Early math skills lay the foundation for children’s long-term academic success. An increasing number of randomized controlled math interventions have been carried out across educational settings. The aim of the present systematic review was to identify the distribution of the randomized controlled math interventions conducted between 2001 and 2021 in educational settings across Early Childhood Education (ECE) up to high school among various sample types, and to describe their central features at each educational setting separately. Based on the knowledge gaps exposed through the systematic review, we aimed to discuss where and how future math interventions are still needed in order to optimize all children’s math skill development across educational settings and sample types from early on. A total of n = 75 math interventions meeting the inclusion criteria using the PRISMA-guidelines were identified, of which the majority of them were executed in the elementary school, mostly targeting at-risk children. It is proposed that there is still a large potential of promoting children’s math skills from early on in the ECE settings, utilizing both teachers and parents, among at-risk and non-at-risk samples.

Effects of a 3-factor field intervention on numerical and geometric knowledge in preschool children.

The main aim of this study was to develop and test the effects of a field math intervention program on both number and geometry knowledge. The intervention was developed based on three basic skills previously associated with mathematical performance: symbolic number knowledge, mapping processes and spatial reasoning. The participants were 117 preschoolers from six schools in Cali and Bogotá. The children were assigned to an intervention group (N = 55) or a control group (N = 62). The intervention lasted 11 weeks with 3 sessions per week where the children participated in different game-based activities. Tests of numerical and geometric knowledge were administered before and after the intervention. The effects of the intervention were tested twice, immediately after the program ended and six months later. The results show that the children in the intervention group improved more than the control group in both number and geometry. The second posttest revealed a significant intervention effect for geometry, but not for numerical knowledge. The implications of these mixed patterns of results are discussed in the paper.

The math talk learning environment: Testing an early childhood math intervention

Given the importance attributed to math talk, this study sought to test the effects of a Math Talk Learning Environment for exposing children to math talk and whether this effort would improve children's early math skills. The intervention used guided play in small group math games focused on numeracy skills. The analytic sample comprised 95 racially and ethnically diverse children enrolled in Head Start classrooms randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or the counterfactual. Students in one group engaged in math games while being encouraged to use math language, whereas the other group engaged in the same math games without any explicit math language encouragement. Linear mixed modeling was used to regress children's residualized math gains on condition. Results showed a significant difference in the general math skills and the specific numeracy skills gained by children who participated in the two treatment groups compared to the counterfactual. No significant differences could be detected between the treatment groups; yet, there are indicators that the intervention warrants further investigation. This research parallels prior research and contributes new findings that will inform early childhood practitioners, developmental psychologists, and others interested in applying cognitive science to the classroom. The discussion includes descriptions of the supports required and challenges to fostering young children's mathematical thinking.

Lessons from a preschool intervention study carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic

The article describes how a series of adaptions enabled us to carry out a controlled intervention study in 15 preschools, with 420 children and about 40 preschool teachers, during the Covid‑19 pandemic restrictions. The original overarching aim of the study was to develop and evaluate an early math intervention supporting children from low-SES environments to develop basic mathematical skills. The two main research questions addressed preschool children’s early math development using a digital play-&amp;-learn game (anonymized), and the pedagogical impact of an integrated teacher resources package. Four guiding principles complemented the research questions: accumulation of new knowledge, collaboration &amp; participatory design, experimental control &amp; ecological validity, and real-world applicability. The focus of this article is on how data collections methods and analyses were adapted to handle the constraints induced by Covid‑19 without deviating from the original research questions and the four guiding principles. The adaptions clearly entailed methodological limitations. Yet the study demonstrates the possibility to conduct a remotely controlled effect study encompassing both ecological validity and real-world applicability

Executive Functions: What are they Good for? A Perspective from Intervention Research

ABSTRACTBecause deficits in executive functions (EFs) characterize most neurodevelopmental disorders, it is appropriate to question the value of EFs for understanding learning disabilities. Two types of studies—those testing whether EFs moderate treatment effects and those testing the direction of effects between EFs and academic skills—are presented to support the idea that EFs are useful for the study of learning disabilities in the context of intervention. Moderator effects in reading and math intervention studies suggest that considering EFs to be properties of not only persons, but also interventions is important for understanding treatment effects and for designing more effective interventions. An experimental study comparing math word problem solving interventions and EF interventions provides evidence for bidirectional development of working memory and math word problem solving. Directions for future experimental research that systematically and more rapidly investigate growth in EFs and academic skills in individuals with learning disabilities are presented.

EASY MATH: AN INTERVENTION MATERIAL FOR NUMERACY SKILLS OF GRADE 10

This thesis titled, “EASY MATH: An Intervention material on the Numeracy Skills of Grade 10 Students” intended to find answers to the following questions: 1.) What is the level of acceptability of “EASY MATH”:An intervention material with regards to components that concludes objectives, content, topics, and activities? 2.) What is the level of acceptability of “EASY MATH”:An intervention material in terms of the characteristics such as usability, suitability , and reliability? 3.) What is the level of numeracy skills of the Grade 10 students relative to reading/recognizing numbers, ordering and comparing of numbers, performing operations on numbers, problem solving and number sense, and analyzing patterns and graphs? 4.) What is the performance in using “EASY MATH”: an intervention material of Grade 10 students in terms of pre-test and post-test? 5.) Is there a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test performance in “EASY MATH”: an intervention material of Grade 10 students? Descriptive-quantitative research designed was employed in the study. Respondents were selected using the non-probability sampling specifically purposive sampling. The result of the study showed that EASY MATH: An intervention material was highly acceptable in terms of its components that concludes the objectives, content, topics, and activities as well as in terms of its characteristics such as usability, suitability and reliablity. Study showed a remarkable improvement from numerate to highly numerate on the following: Remembering and Recognizing Numbers , Ordering and Comparing of Numbers and Performing Operations on Numbers. However, Analyzing Patterns and Graphs remained to Highly numerate while Problem solving and Number sense remained to Numerate before and after using the interventiona material. It is concluded that the EASY MATH An Intervention material enhanced learning with regards to numeracy skills of the repsondents. The result of the pretest stage was verbally interpreted as Numerate while during the posttest stage, it was verbally interpreted as Highly Numerate. For the difference between the pretest and posttest, it showed an analysis of Significant. The EASY MATH Intervention material was an effective tool in improving the numeracy skills of Grade 10 students. With the positive results of the study, it is hereby recommended for consideration that the EASY MATH intervention material can be used as a reference and additional learning activity to aid students difficulty in numeracy.<

A Meta-Analysis and Quality Review of Mathematics Interventions Conducted in Informal Learning Environments with Caregivers and Children

The purposes of this study included conducting a meta-analysis and reviewing the study reporting quality of math interventions implemented in informal learning environments (e.g., the home) by children’s caregivers. This meta-analysis included 25 preschool to third-grade math interventions with 83 effect sizes that yielded a statistically significant summary effect (g = 0.26, 95% CI [0.07, 0.45) on children’s math achievement. Significant moderators of the treatment effect included the intensity of caregiver training and type of outcome measure. There were larger average effects for interventions with caregiver training that included follow-up support and for outcomes that were comprehensive early numeracy measures. Studies met 58.0% of reporting quality indicators, and analyses revealed that quality of reporting has improved in recent years. The results of this study offer several recommendations for researchers and practitioners, particularly given the growing evidence base of math interventions conducted in informal learning environments.

Changing the Odds: Student Achievement after Introduction of a Middle School Math Intervention

The paper evaluates math performance at four high-need middle schools during a four-year intervention, which was designed to help math teachers diagnose students’ areas of need and to design lesson plans responsive to those needs. Before the intervention began, the researchers pre-selected four comparison schools by matching based on achievement and also on demographics. A difference-in-difference analysis finds a significant increase of about 0.11 standard deviation in test scores per year for students in the program schools. Supplementary event study and synthetic control analyses to detect year-by-year effects lack precision but are weakly suggestive of a smaller impact in year 1 than later years. A cost analysis considers the affordability of extending similar programs.

Evaluating the Impact of Supplemental Computer-Assisted Math Instruction in Elementary School: A Conceptual Replication

Despite the surge in efficacy studies, the relative effectiveness of any two math interventions is largely unknown and replications are rare. To ensure that students benefit from high-quality learning experiences, the current conceptual replication of Wang and Woodworth, a randomized control trial, evaluated the relative impacts of two computer programs used in a school district as supplements to students’ regular education math instruction, DreamBox Learning and Zearn Math. For 115 students in kindergarten and first grade, data were collected before and after an 11-week implementation period. Measures of effect size, but not null hypothesis statistical tests, suggested that participants in the DreamBox condition had higher test scores on posttest numeracy and geometry (Hedges g = .32 and .14). There was also a statistically significant group by pretest interaction, evidence of “Matthew Effects” for numeracy. Although some support for adopting DreamBox as a supplemental method for improving math competencies of students in early elementary school was provided, more research is needed as the true effect may be smaller than what the present study reports. The study’s implications are discussed.