Math Performance Research Articles

Call Up Approach: An Intervention Program Driving Effects on Learners’ Performance in the Core Subject Areas

This study examined the effectiveness of CALL UP Approach, Teachers’ Calibrating action for Lifelong Learning to Upstage Pandemic, on pupils’ performance specifically in English, Mathematics and Science. CALL UP Approach is an intervention strategy formulated by the teacher and employed during the Modular Distance Learning; a modality implemented during the occurrence of Covid 19 pandemic. The quasi-experimental method of research was employed to investigate the effectiveness of CALL UP Approach to improve learners’ performance in English, Math and Science. This pre-posttest design makes use of two group of learners with almost similar characteristics. The learners were divided into two groups to compose the control and experimental groups. The control group were subjected to the usual treatment. Meanwhile, the experimental group were subjected to CALL UP Approach composed of home visits, small group community teaching, scaffolding and feedbacking. The results yielded significant difference on the mean gain score between the control and experimental groups implying that the CALL UP Approach is more effective in improving the pupil’s academic performance in English, Math and Science than the previously available learning model of delivery. The Call Up Approach as an intervention program is found effective to improve the learner’s academic performance as revealed in this study.

How Mindsets, Academic Performance, and Gender Predict Finnish Students’ Educational Aspirations

This study examined Finnish eighth graders’ (N = 1136) educational aspirations and how those can be predicted by mindsets, academic achievement, and gender. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate how two mindset constructs (intelligence and giftedness), domain-specific academic performance (mathematics and reading), and gender relate to students’ educational aspirations on three levels (academic, vocational, and unknown). The growth mindset about giftedness was found to predict unknown aspirations, whereas the growth mindset about intelligence did not predict educational aspirations. High performance in math predicted students’ academic aspirations, but performance in reading did not predict educational aspirations. Gender-related differences were found, as boys seem to have vocational aspirations, but the effect did not penetrate all schools. Lastly, students’ aspirations differed between schools: from some schools, students are more likely to apply to university, while from other schools, students are more likely to apply to vocational education. Overall, the study demonstrated that a growth mindset does not directly predict academic aspirations, and the relationship between implicit beliefs and educational outcomes might be more complex than suggested.

The influence of sex on the relations among spatial ability, math anxiety and math performance

BackgroundA large body of research has found stronger math anxiety in females and suggests that inferior spatial abilities (or attributes towards spatial abilities) in females compared to males are the origin of sex differences in math anxiety. PurposeTo fully explore the complex relationship among math anxiety, spatial abilities, math performance and sex differences, the current study examined spatial skills, working memory skills, math anxiety, and self-efficacy as predictors of math performance. Basic proceduresParticipating in the study were 89 undergraduate Israeli students (44 males and 45 females). Main findingsThe result showed sex differences in a few domains: math anxiety was higher in females compared to males, males outperformed females in number line performance and spatial skills. The relationships among spatial abilities, math performance, and math anxiety were stronger in males than in females. By contrast, the relationship between math self-efficacy and performance was stronger in females compared to males. ConclusionsThis finding demonstrated fundamental differences between the sexes, even with similar performances in curriculum-based assessments.

Unraveling the role of math anxiety in students' math performance.

Math anxiety (MA; i.e., feelings of anxiety experienced when being confronted with mathematics) can have negative implications on the mental health and well-being of individuals and is moderately negatively correlated with math achievement. Nevertheless, ambiguity about some aspects related to MA may prevent a fathomed understanding of this systematically observed relationship. The current study set out to bring these aspects together in a comprehensive study. Our first focus of interest was the multi-component structure of MA, whereby we investigated the relationship between state- and trait-MA and math performance (MP) and whether this relation depends on the complexity of a math task. Second, the domain-specificity of MA was considered by examining the contribution of general anxiety (GA) and MA on MP and whether MA also influences the performance in non-math tasks. In this study, 181 secondary school students aged between 16 and 18 years old were randomly presented with four tasks (varying in topic [math/non-math] and complexity [easy/difficult]). The math task was a fraction comparison task and the non-math task was a color comparison task, in which specific indicators were manipulated to develop an easy and difficult version of the tasks. For the first research question, results showed a moderate correlation between state- and trait-MA, which is independent of the complexity of the math task. Regression analyses showed that while state-MA affects MP in the easy math task, it is trait-MA that affects MP in the difficult math task. For the second research question, a high correlation was observed between GA and MA, but regression analyses showed that GA is not related to MP and MA has no predictive value for performance in non-math tasks. Taken together, this study underscores the importance of distinguishing between state and trait-MA in further research and suggests that MA is domain-specific.

The Mediating Effects of Specific Types of Self-Efficacy on the Relationship between Math Anxiety and Performance

The negative relationship between math anxiety and math performance is well-supported in the literature. The important role of students’ math self-efficacy (i.e., their confidence in their ability to successfully complete specific math tasks) in this relationship is also established. Self-efficacy is extremely specific, however, and it is possible that additional types of self-efficacy can play a role in the relationship between anxiety and performance. This study surveyed 118 undergraduate students on their math anxiety, math performance, math self-efficacy, emotional self-efficacy, and emotional self-efficacy specifically in math to determine the mediating effects of these specific types of self-efficacy. Hierarchical linear regression shows that math self-efficacy continues to fully mediate the relationship between anxiety and performance; in the current study, emotional self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship while emotional self-efficacy specifically in math did not. The role of emotional self-efficacy should be further explored, as these findings are contrary to previous work. Educational interventions should continue to emphasize building students’ math confidence to improve the math performance of math-anxious students.

The timing of executive function development is associated with growth in math achievement from preschool through second grade

We examined whether the timing of executive function (EF) development was associated with growth in children's math achievement across eight measurement occasions from preschool through second grade. Using a prospective longitudinal sample of 351 children, we found that children who developed EF later, entered preschool with the lowest levels of math performance and did not catch-up to their intermediate or early EF developing counterparts despite exhibiting a similar math growth rate through second grade. This trend was also observed after controlling for children's biological sex, early language skills, and socioeconomic background. These findings suggest that developing EF late might place children at a unique risk for math difficulties independent of important child and family level characteristics and can provide insights for instructional strategies that take into account differences in children's EF development.

Priming Science Identity Elicits Stereotype Boost for Chinese Science Female Students: Evidence From Math Performance

The existing research reported that activating the Asian identity of Asian-American women improved their math performance (stereotype boost) while activating their female identity deteriorated their math performance (stereotype threat). However, whether the stereotype boost and threat effects can be elicited in other groups or cultures is still unclear. In Study 1, 78 Chinese science female students were primed by science-identity, female-identity, or no-identity, followed by a math test. Results showed that science- and female-identity-primed groups performed better than the control group. Study 2 with 104 Chinese science female students found the same results. In Chinese culture, stereotype boost can be generalized to science female students, and stereotype threat, which can be influenced by culture or experimental settings, was not discovered.

What Matters for Boys Does Not Necessarily Matter for Girls: Gender-Specific Relations between Perceived Self-Determination, Engagement, and Performance in School Mathematics

While math performance does not seem to differ systematically between males and females, it is one of the subjects that is consistently perceived as “male” with girls regularly reporting lower levels of motivation and less positive attitudes than boys. This study aimed to uncover gender-specific relations between perceived self-determination, engagement, and performance in school mathematics that might help to better understand this discrepancy. In an online study, we hence assessed perceived competence and autonomy support, social relatedness, cognitive and behavioral engagement, math performance as well as sustained attention as a basic cognitive prerequisite in a sample of N = 221 Seventh-Grade students from southern Germany (Mage = 12.84 years, SDage = 0.55, Nfemales = 115). As expected, we found no gender differences in math performance. In multiple group path analyses, perceived autonomy support was the most consistent predictor of cognitive and behavioral engagement for both girls and boys. While it did not affect math performance directly, we found significant indirect effects via cognitive engagement for girls, and via behavioral engagement for boys, whereas competence support in the math classroom, which female students perceived as significantly lower than male students, negatively predicted only girls’ performance, sustained attention explained a considerable part of boys’ math performance. Girls seem to experience competence support less often than boys, and if they do, we assume it to be in response to low performance rather than to encourage high competence and nurture talent. Our results suggest promising avenues for future research and implications for math classrooms.

Visualizing Status, Hotspots, and Future Trends in Mathematical Literacy Research via Knowledge Graph

The goal of education for sustainable development is to prepare future citizens to make informed decisions and take responsible action to solve problems. The purpose of mathematical literacy is to ensure that all learners develop an understanding of mathematics, and how to relate mathematics to the world and use mathematical knowledge to make valuable decisions in their lives, work, and society. It can be seen that the purpose of mathematical literacy coincides with the goal of education for sustainable development. In addition, math literacy is closely related to self-regulated learning (SRL), which is the key to meaningful learning and sustainable development. In educational research, it is an essential task to cultivate learners’ mathematical literacy and promote their sustainable development. With the rapid growth of emerging technologies, the emergence of big data has brought numerous challenges to various research fields. In the age of big data, educational research that can identify research perspectives and hotspots and summarize research evolution rules from a large body of literature can assist us in deepening subsequent analysis. As a result, in this study, we used CiteSpace and HistCite knowledge map visualization and exploration technology to examine mathematical literacy research trends, major research countries and regions, major research institutions, significant researchers, highly cited papers, research hotspots, and evolution trends on a global scale. Through this study, we found that the earliest literature on mathematical literacy appeared in 1957, and the research on mathematical literacy can be divided into three germination stages (1957–2001), a slow development stage (2001–2011), and a prosperous development stage (2011–2022). Most studies come from developed countries such as the US, the UK, Germany, and Australia. The Universities of Utrecht and Purdue University were the most published institutions, and scholars at Purpura published the most articles. The research object of highly cited literature is mainly children, and the research is primarily carried out through the measurement of students’ mathematical ability and achievement and the analysis of related influencing factors, which provides a direction for how to improve students’ mathematical literacy. The research on mathematical literacy mainly includes four research hotspots: working memory and mathematical literacy; brain science and mathematical literacy; mathematical achievement and mathematical literacy; and the generation strategy of mathematical literacy. The research field of mathematics literacy mainly includes working memory, parietal cortex, math performance, mathematics education, early childhood, parental belief, fractions, cognitive development, and student learning. There are 10 clusters. Different clusters have different evolutionary trends. With the evolution of time, working memory, mathematical education, fractions, and precinct beliefs clustered, gradually expanding from the concentrated research direction to the subdivision field. The clusters of parietal cortex, math performance, early childhood, cognitive development, and students do not show large keyword nodes during the research period. With time, it has gradually expanded from the centralized research direction to the subdivision field. The parietal cortex, math performance, early childhood, cognitive development, and students clusters did not show large keyword nodes during the whole study period.

Math pedagogical practices in Kenya and Uganda, and their implications to learning in sub-Saharan Africa

This article focuses on the teaching styles and active teaching in East Africa in an attempt to examine what accounts for differences in performance between schools, and provide some lessons for sub-Saharan Africa. It uses data collected from 428 teachers in primary schools in Kenya; and 157 teachers in primary schools in Uganda. Assessment and classroom lesson video recordings of 436 lessons in math are used to generate evidence on patterns of teaching styles and active teaching. Results show that teaching practice in math is inclined towards the command and task styles that do not promote critical thinking among learners. The dominant teaching activity in math lessons was individual seat work in Kenya; and whole class chorus in Uganda. Overall, active teaching accounted for about half of the lesson time, with the other half being used in activities that do not directly enhance learning opportunities. After accounting for country-specific effects and the grade the teacher was teaching, teaching styles did not explain student performance in math, perhaps due to their ineffectiveness. The implications of these findings to the education systems in sub-Saharan Africa countries is the need to reinvigorate teaching practices; furthermore, any efforts to increase daily learning hours will be counterproductive as almost half of the lesson time is inefficiently utilized inside the classroom.

Greenness around Brazilian schools may improve students’ math performance but not science performance

Green spaces play a vital role in the social, economic, and physical well-being of people. To further research on this topic, in this paper, we estimated the association of greenness and academic performance at the school-level in Brazil. We analyzed this association using mixed-effects regression models, adjusted for air pollution, SES, and spatiotemporal terms. We used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as the exposure variable. Data from the high school national exam in Brazil (at the school level, measured with a score varying from 0 to 1000) was used to represent the academic performance. The primary analysis results indicate that green areas surrounding schools are positively associated with school-level academic performance in math, with an estimated coefficient of 17.18 (95%CI: 10.46; 23.90). The results were statistically insignificant for science, with a coefficient of − 2.39 (95%CI: −7.49; 2.71). Our findings are relevant for policymakers and urban planners to improve the environment surrounding schools to promote public health by making schools healthier.

A Cautionary Tale of Tutoring Hard-to-Reach Students in Kenya

Covid-19 school closures generated interest in tutoring to make up for lost learning time. Tutoring is backed by rigorous research, but it is unclear whether it can be delivered effectively remotely. We study the effect of teacher-student phone calls in Kenya when schools were closed. Schools (n = 105) were randomly assigned for 3rd, 5th and 6th graders (n = 8,319) to receive one of two versions of a 7-week weekly math intervention—5-minute accountability checks or 15-min mini-tutoring sessions—or to the control group. Although calls increased perceptions that teachers cared, accountability checks had no effect on math performance four months later and tutoring decreased achievement among students who returned to their schools after reopening. This was, in part, because the relatively low-achieving students most likely to benefit from calls were least likely to return and take assessments. Tutoring substituted away from more productive uses of time, at least among returners. Neither intervention affected enrollment. Tutoring remains a valuable tool but to avoid unintended consequences, careful attention should be paid to aligning interventions with best practices and targeting to those who benefit most.

Use of Scaffold Method by Pre-School Teachers in Teaching Mathematics in Nigeria

Purpose: The goal of the study was to determine how frequently pre-school instructors used the scaffolding teaching style when instructing math. 
 Methodology: Ex-post-facto research is the type of research that is used. Both descriptive and inferential approaches were used to examine the data. 
 Results: The study found that only one of the elements or scaffolding, namely directing, was being used at an appropriate mean frequency level score of 64.2 while the other five had low mean usage ranging between 4.5 and 23.7. These others are soliciting (4.5), child's idea (10.8), encouraging (12.0) questioning (18.8), and freedom (23.7). 
 Conclusion: None of the research's independent factors such as training program, teaching experience, and class size. The frequency of usage of the scaffolding teaching approach was shown to be significantly influenced by preschool teachers' attitudes on its use, math proficiency, and school administration. 
 Recommendations: The study advises maintenance of focus on ongoing instruction in the approach during in-service training in order to increase math performance. It also recommend that more research be done on other factors including age, gender, and marital status that may have an impact on the scaffolding teaching method.

Effort(less) exam preparation: Math anxiety predicts the avoidance of effortful study strategies.

Previous research suggests that math anxiety, or feelings of apprehension about math, leads individuals to engage in math avoidance behaviors that negatively impact their future math performance. However, much of the research on this topic explores global avoidance behaviors in situations where math can be avoided entirely rather than more localized avoidance behaviors that occur within a mathematics context. Since the option to completely avoid math is not common in most formal education systems, we investigated how and if math avoidance behaviors manifest for math-anxious high school students enrolled in math courses. Given previous research highlighting the utility of effortful study strategies as well as recent findings identifying a relation between math anxiety and the avoidance of math-related effort, we hypothesized that math anxiety would be associated with decreased planned engagement of effortful study strategies by students and that such effort avoidance would result in worse performance on a high-stakes mathematics exam. We found (N = 190) that the majority of students ranked problem-solving as the most effortful study strategy and that math anxiety was associated with less planned engagement with effortful problem-solving during studying. Moreover, the avoidance of effortful problem-solving engagement partially mediated the association between math anxiety and exam performance, marking it as a potential target for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

How Math Anxiety and Math Performance are linked? An Investigation under Various Theories at School Level

Math anxiety (MA) is considered the sign of declination of math performance (MP) of students. However, the reasons behind this are still uncertain. The objective of the current state of the art review research was to inspect the connection between MA and MP under various factors and theories at the school level. A total of 158 full-text studies were chosen by ensuring the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Moderation studies revealed that the link between MA and MP was changed differently depending on the complexity of mathematical assignments, the dimensions of MA, and the impacts on students’ grades. MA evaluated with affective and cognitive dimensions under various theories indicated an adverse relationship with MP. When MA is associated with fundamental mathematical activities, advanced mathematical tasks that demand multiple steps to solve revealed a higher adverse relationship with math anxiety. Furthermore, practical and theoretical aspects of the findings of the study are also discussed.

The role of math anxiety in the relationship between approximate number system and math performance in young children

AbstractAlthough interest in mathematics anxiety in young children (6–11 years) has increased recently, the results of previous studies on the role of mathematics anxiety in the relationship between number sense and math performance are inconsistent. The study's main objective was to establish whether math anxiety is a mediator or a moderator in the relationship between number line estimation (NLE) and mathematical outcomes. A cross‐sectional, correlational design was used. A total of 234 Turkish public primary school children (third and fourth graders) participated in the study. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) math anxiety mediates the relationship between the approximate number system (ANS) (an easier and more difficult task of ANS) and math performance (math achievement and arithmetic fluency); (2) math anxiety moderates the relationship between ANS (an easier and more difficult task of ANS) and math performance (math achievement and arithmetic fluency). The results mostly suggest no mediation effect of math anxiety between NLE and math performance in young children. The results also suggest that increases in difficulty level in NLE (increases of errors in NLE) is related to more anxiety regarding mathematics. Furthermore, moderation analyses indicated that the acuity of mental representation of numbers in high math‐anxious children is a key factor contributing to math performance. Developmental aspects of the obtained results are also discussed in the paper.

The role of parental involvement and mathematics self-concept of elementary school students in online mathematics learning

Introduction. Learning mathematics from home during the COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge for both parents and students to manage to engage in learning. Therefore, it is important to examine the involvement of parents in learning mathematics from home and students’ mathematics self-concepts and their relationship to mathematics performance.Aim. This study is aimed to analyse parental involvement and students’ mathematical self-concept, the relationship between the two, and their effect on students’ mathematical performance in online learning.Methodology and research methods. A cross-sectional survey was used to achieve the research objectives. There were 56 elementary school students in rural areas who were involved in this study. To assess parental involvement and mathematics self-concept, the authors employed questionnaires. Meanwhile, the results of the mid-semester test were used to assess student math performance. The answers to the research questions were reported using descriptive analysis, correlation, regression, and the t-test.Results. Based on the results of the analysis, parental involvement, both in terms of support and control aspects, has a significant influence on mathematics performance. On the other hand, mathematics self-concept and performance positively influence each other. The findings of the present research also show that the gender group and grade level group did not have significant differences for each variable.Practical significance. This study has implications for schools to maximise parental involvement in their children’s mathematics learning effectively. Communication between schools, teachers, and children, in particular, becomes critical to maximise children’s potential, including their math self-concept.

Identifying the Predictors of Mathematics Anxiety AND Performance in Canada: An Educational Data Mining Approach

Over the last decade, Canadian students have exhibited insubstantial improvements in mathematical scores compared to other countries as indicated by large-scale educational assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In relation to students’ mathematical performance, math anxiety - the feeling of fear or nervousness when performing math-related tasks - was found as an associated factor. However, no previous study has explored math performance and math anxiety, specifically among Albertan students. We present a work-in-progress that identifies significant predictors of math performance and math anxiety among Canadian and Albertan students, using the PISA 2018 and TIMSS 2019 datasets. This study has three phases: first, a list of predictors will be selected from the data set based on existing theories regarding students’ math performance and math anxiety. The initial list of predictors will be presented to domain experts (i.e., math teachers) for refinement based on their practical experience. A predictive model for math performance and math anxiety will be developed with Educational Data Mining techniques in the second phase. Results from the model will be presented to the domain experts for their inputs as the qualitative component, and variable importance metrics of the model will be consulted for the quantitative component. Findings from both components will be integrated consulted with the domain experts to derive actionable recommendations that would inform various stakeholders (e.g., educators, school districts, and Alberta Education) of ways to improve math performance in Alberta students.

The impact of communal learning contexts on adolescent self-concept and achievement: Similarities and differences across race and gender.

Misalignment between students' communal values and those expressed in classrooms is an obstacle to academic engagement, especially in mathematics, and especially for racial ethnic minority and female students. Using 10 schools across the United States, we conducted a longitudinal field study in 8th grade mathematics classes to investigate: (a) how perceptions of communally oriented classrooms influence student outcomes in early adolescence, (b) what psychological processes mediate these relations, and (c) whether the influence of perceived communal practices in classrooms have similar or different effects on students with varying social identities based on race, ethnicity, and gender. Results showed that middle school classes that emphasize communality (both social relevance of math and peer collaboration) significantly predicted stronger math self-concept, more behavioral engagement, and better performance in math. These associations were mediated through three psychological processes-belonging, challenge, and self-efficacy. Among racial ethnic minority adolescents, feelings of belonging and challenge in math class were key psychological processes that enhanced math learning outcomes. These processes were activated when classes connected communal values to math. Finally, communal learning contexts benefited girls and boys equally. In sum, communal values practiced by emphasizing social relevance of academic content and using collaborative learning practices engage all students, especially students of color, at a formative period of academic learning in mathematics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Behavioral Strengths and Difficulties and Their Associations with Academic Performance in Math among Rural Youth in China.

Behavioral strengths and difficulties among children and adolescents may be significantly associated with their academic performance; however, the evidence on this issue for rural youth in developing contexts is limited. This study explored the prevalence and correlates of mental health from three specific dimensions—internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior—measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and the association of these dimensions with academic performance in math among a sample of 1500 students in rural China. Our findings indicated that students in rural China had worse behavioral difficulties and poorer prosocial skills when compared to most past studies conducted inside and outside of China. In addition, total difficulties and prosocial scores on the SDQ were significantly associated with student math test scores, as students whose externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial scores were in the abnormal range scored lower in math by 0.35 SD, 0.23 SD, and 0.33 SD, respectively. The results add to the growing body of empirical evidence related to the links between social environment, mental health, and academic performance in developing countries, highlighting the importance of students’ mental health for their academic performance, and of understanding risk factors in the social environment among rural youth in developing countries.