Learning new problem-solving strategies leads to changes in problem representation

Children sometimes solve problems incorrectly because they fail to represent key features of the problems. One potential source of improvements in children's problem representations is learning new problem-solving strategies. Ninety-one 3rd- and 4th-grade students solved mathematical equivalence problems (e.g., 3 + 4 + 6 = 3 + __) and completed a representation assessment in which they briefly viewed similar problems and either reconstructed each problem or identified it in a set of alternatives. Experimental groups then received a lesson about one or both of two solution strategies, the equalize strategy and the add–subtract strategy. A control group received no instruction. All children completed posttest assessments of representation and problem solving. Children taught the equalize strategy improved their problem representations more than those not taught it. This pattern did not hold for the add–subtract strategy. These results indicate that learning new strategies is one source of changes in problem representation. However, some strategies are more effective than others at promoting accurate problem representation.     

Developing a plan for solving a problem: A representational shift

Research analyzing transitions from lower to higher levels of problem solving has focused either on quantitative increments in processing demands (Case, 1984; Klahr & Robinson, 1981) or on qualitative shifts in the organization of representations (Fischer & Pipp, 1984; Piaget, 1976). This study is concerned with distinguishing the value of these two approaches to problem solving through a microgenetic analysis of children's initial attempts to solve the Tower of Hanoi problem. As suggested by Siegler and Crowley (1991), a microgenetic approach is particularly useful in determining the process of cognitive change. One-hundred and thirty-six children, ages 6 through 8 years, were presented with the standard three-disc problem and allowed 3 minutes to complete it. The quality of the children's performance was analyzed by noting the positioning of the first move, the number and location of illegal moves, and the frequency and location of optimal moves. The results indicate that qualitative shifts in children's representation of the problem space are a crucial aspect of successful performance.     

Improved set‐size labeling mediates the effect of a counting intervention on children's understanding of cardinality

How does improving children's ability to label set sizes without counting affect the development of understanding of the cardinality principle? It may accelerate development by facilitating subsequent alignment and comparison of the cardinal label for a given set and the last word counted when counting that set (Mix et al., 2012). Alternatively, it may delay development by decreasing the need for a comprehensive abstract principle to understand and label exact numerosities (Piantadosi et al., 2012). In this study, preschoolers (N = 106, M_age = 4;8) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) count‐and‐label, wherein children spent 6 weeks both counting and labeling sets arranged in canonical patterns like pips on a die; (b) label‐first,wherein children spent the first 3 weeks learning to label the set sizes without counting before spending 3 weeks identical to the count‐and‐label condition; (c) print referencing control. Both counting conditions improved understanding of cardinality through increases in children's ability to label set sizes without counting. In addition to this indirect effect, there was a direct effect of the count‐and‐label condition on progress toward understanding of cardinality. Results highlight the roles of set labeling and equifinality in the development of children's understanding of number concepts.     

Cognitive skills in mathematical problem solving in Grade 3

Background. Research on the relationship between cognitive skills and mathematical problem solving is usually conducted on adults or on participants with acquired deficits associated with brain injury (e.g. Cipolotti, 1995 ; Cohen, Dehaene, & Verstichel, 1994 ; McCloskey, 1992 ). Aims. In these studies we wanted to make a contribution to the field of children's mathematical problem solving. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether mathematical problem solving in children is merely determined by semantic elaboration, as hypothesized in some of the models of adult processing (semantic hypothesis). In addition, we aimed to investigate whether there is a continuum from very good to very poor mathematical problem solving among children with mathematical learning disabilities showing immature cognitive skills (maturational lag hypothesis). Sample. The participants were 376 third graders and 107 second graders. Method. The internal structure of the data was analysed with a principal components analysis. In addition, two MANOVA were conducted to compare children with learning disabilities or problems with age‐matched and performance‐matched subjects. Results. Two components, a semantic and a non‐semantic one, were needed to account for an adequate fit of the dataset. In addition, children with mathematical learning disabilities had less‐developed cognitive skills compared with peers without learning disabilities, but they did not differ from younger children on seven of the nine cognitive skills. Conclusions. This study highlighted that children's mathematical problem solving is not determined by one general component. The picture is more complex, since two mathematics components were found. In addition, although our findings point in the direction of the maturational lag hypothesis it may be important to assess the different cognitive skills and especially assess the number system knowledge, since it seems below average in children with mathematical learning disabilities, compared with the knowledge of younger children with comparable skills in mathematics.     

Counting on fine motor skills: links between preschool finger dexterity and numerical skills

Finger counting is widely considered an important step in children's early mathematical development. Presumably, children's ability to move their fingers during early counting experiences to aid number representation depends in part on their early fine motor skills (FMS). Specifically, FMS should link to children's procedural counting skills through consistent repetition of finger‐counting procedures. Accordingly, we hypothesized that (a) FMS are linked to early counting skills, and (b) greater FMS relate to conceptual counting knowledge (e.g., cardinality, abstraction, order irrelevance) via procedural counting skills (i.e., one–one correspondence and correctness of verbal counting). Preschool children (N = 177) were administered measures of procedural counting skills, conceptual counting knowledge, FMS, and general cognitive skills along with parent questionnaires on home mathematics and fine motor environment. FMS correlated with procedural counting skills and conceptual counting knowledge after controlling for cognitive skills, chronological age, home mathematics and FMS environments. Moreover, the relationship between FMS and conceptual counting knowledge was mediated by procedural counting skills. Findings suggest that FMS play a role in early counting and therewith conceptual counting knowledge.     

Longitudinal causal impacts of preschool teacher training on Ghanaian children’s school readiness: Evidence for persistence and fade‐out

Preschool programs have expanded rapidly in low‐ and middle‐income countries, but there are widespread concerns about whether they are of sufficient quality to promote children's learning and development. We conducted a large school‐randomized control trial (‘Quality Preschool for Ghana’ – QP4G) of a one‐year teacher training and coaching program, with and without parental‐awareness meetings, designed to improve preschool quality and child development. We followed 3,435 children in 240 schools in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, a country with universal pre‐primary education. A previous study reported positive impacts of teacher training (but not teacher training plus parental‐awareness meetings) at the end of the implementation year on some dimensions of classroom quality, teacher well‐being, and children's school readiness (Wolf et al., [2019] Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 12, 10–37). The present study analyzed a new round of data collected 1 year after the end of implementation to assess (a) the extent of persistence in impacts on child development and (b) whether such impacts vary by select child, household, and school characteristics. We found impacts of the teacher training intervention on children's overall school readiness were sustained (d = 0.13), but were only marginally statistically significant. When broken down by domain, impacts on social–emotional skills specifically persisted. Persistent negative effects of teacher training plus parental‐awareness meetings varied by the literacy status of the male parent such that negative impacts were concentrated in children in households with non‐literate male heads.     

Influences of problem format and SES on preschoolers’ understanding of approximate addition

Recent studies suggest that 5-year-olds can add and compare large numerical quantities through approximate representations of number. However, the nature of this understanding and its susceptibility to environmental influences remain unclear. We examined whether children's early competence depends on the canonical problem format (i.e., arithmetic operations presented on the left side). Sixty children from middle-to-high-SES backgrounds (Experiment 1) and 47 children from low-SES backgrounds (Experiment 2) viewed events that required them to add and compare large numbers. Events were shown in a canonical or noncanonical format. Children from both SES backgrounds performed above chance on the approximate addition tasks, but children from middle-to-high-SES backgrounds performed significantly better. Moreover, children from middle-to-high SES backgrounds performed better when problems were presented in the canonical format, whereas children from low-SES backgrounds did not. These results suggest that children's understanding of approximate number is affected by some of the same environmental factors that affect performance on exact arithmetic tasks.     

Children's Representation and Imitation of Events: How Goal Organization Influences 3‐Year‐Old Children's Memory for Action Sequences

Children's imitation of adults plays a prominent role in human cognitive development. However, few studies have investigated how children represent the complex structure of observed actions which underlies their imitation. We integrate theories of action segmentation, memory, and imitation to investigate whether children's event representation is organized according to veridical serial order or a higher level goal structure. Children were randomly assigned to learn novel event sequences either through interactive hands‐on experience (Study 1) or via storybook (Study 2). Results demonstrate that children's representation of observed actions is organized according to higher level goals, even at the cost of representing the veridical temporal ordering of the sequence. We argue that prioritizing goal structure enhances event memory, and that this mental organization is a key mechanism of social‐cognitive development in real‐world, dynamic environments. It supports cultural learning and imitation in ecologically valid settings when social agents are multitasking and not demonstrating one isolated goal at a time.     

Inhibition and language pragmatic view in redundant data problem solving

The present study concerns redundant data problems, defined as problems in which irrelevant data is provided. This type of problem provides a misleading context [Pascual-Leone, J. (1987). Organismic process for neo-Piagetian theories: A dialectical causal account of cognitive development. International Journal of Psychology, 22, 531–570] similar to the Piagetian class inclusion task. The two experiments performed showed that adding the a-pragmatic cue ‘in total’ to the final question of redundant data problems increased both 7- and 9-year-old children's failure rate, without modifying the structure of the problem. This indicates that a non-structural linguistic cue can bias children towards failure by enhancing the lack of inhibition of the ordinary adding schema.     

ROLE OF FIRST‐YEAR MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT IN BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN

Drawing on economic models of child development and attachment relationship perspectives, this study examined the effect of maternal employment in the first year after childbirth on subsequent behavioral and cognitive development in low‐income children. Analyses of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 411) revealed that despite the accompanying family income gains, maternal employment in the first year after childbirth adversely affected caregiver‐reported internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of Hispanic, Black, and White children at ages 3 and 5 years. This study also examined how paternal participation in childcare might affect children's outcomes. Results indicate that greater paternal participation eased the adverse impacts of maternal employment on internalizing behavior problems. There was no evidence that maternal employment was associated with children's memory cognitive functioning or that paternal involvement moderated children's cognitive development. These findings suggest that when early intervention programs are designed to assist low‐income families, enhancing supports (e.g., paternal involvement or parental leave) for working mothers during their child's first year may be valuable for young children's healthy development.     

Young children's self‐benefiting lies and their relation to executive functioning and theory of mind

It is well established that children lie in different social contexts for various purposes from the age of 2 years. Surprisingly, little is known about whether very young children will spontaneously lie for personal gain, how self‐benefiting lies emerge, and what cognitive factors affect the emergence of self‐benefiting lies. To bridge this gap in the literature, we situated children between 2 and 4 years of age in a zero‐sum game where children must lie to their opponent if they wanted to win a desirable reward. We found that the majority of young children did not lie even when they experienced personal losses repeatedly. However, some children spontaneously lied during the game; as the game progressed, more children lied. Further, we found that children's theory of mind understanding and executive functioning in terms of a combination of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility had significant positive and unique correlations with how frequently children lied for personal gain. The present results taken together with the existing findings regarding children's lies for self‐protection and politeness purposes suggest that the act of lying begins early in life. Further, its emergence and development are influenced by children's specific cognitive abilities in the domains of theory of mind understanding and executive functioning.

Highlights

• The study investigated whether very young children will spontaneously lie for personal gain.
• This study used a zero‐sum game to elicit children's self‐benefiting lies. Results showed the majority of young children did not lie, and it is related to children's theory of mind understanding and executive functioning.
• The act of lying begins early in life, and its emergence and development are influenced by children's specific cognitive abilities in the domains of theory of mind understanding and executive functioning.

     

Theory‐of‐Mind development and early sibling relationships after the birth of a sibling: Parental discipline matters

This study investigated relations among children's Theory‐of‐Mind (ToM) development, early sibling interactions, and parental discipline strategies during the transition to siblinghood. Using a sample of firstborn children and their parents (N = 208), we assessed children's ToM before the birth of a sibling and 12 months after the birth, and sibling interactions (i.e., positive engagement and antagonism) and parental discipline strategies (i.e., child‐centred and parent‐centred discipline) at 4 and 8 months in the first year of siblinghood. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed that children's ToM before the birth of the sibling predicted children's positive engagement with the infant sibling, whereas children's antagonistic behaviours towards the infant sibling negatively predicted children's ToM at 12 months, but only when mothers used low levels of child‐centred discipline. These findings emphasize the role of parents in the development of young children's social‐cognitive understanding in the context of early sibling interactions.

Highlights

• This study investigated relations among firstborns' Theory‐of‐Mind (ToM), early sibling relationships, and parental discipline during the first year of siblinghood.
• Multigroup analyses showed that ToM predicted higher sibling positive engagement, and early sibling antagonism predicted poorer ToM when mothers used low child‐centred discipline.
• Parental discipline plays an important role in the development of young children's social understanding and sibling relationships as early as the first year of siblinghood.

     

Young children's non‐numerical ordering ability at the start of formal education longitudinally predicts their symbolic number skills and academic achievement in maths

Ordinality is a fundamental feature of numbers and recent studies have highlighted the role that number ordering abilities play in mathematical development (e.g., Lyons et al., 2014 ), as well as mature mathematical performance (e.g., Lyons & Beilock, 2011 ). The current study tested the novel hypothesis that non‐numerical ordering ability, as measured by the ordering of familiar sequences of events, also plays an important role in maths development. Ninety children were tested in their first school year and 87 were followed up at the end of their second school year, to test the hypothesis that ordinal processing, including the ordering of non‐numerical materials, would be related to their maths skills both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. The results confirmed this hypothesis. Ordinal processing measures were significantly related to maths both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally, and children's non‐numerical ordering ability in their first year of school (as measured by order judgements for everyday events and the parents’ report of their child's everyday ordering ability) was the strongest longitudinal predictor of maths one year later, when compared to several measures that are traditionally considered to be important predictors of early maths development. Children's everyday ordering ability, as reported by parents, also significantly predicted growth in formal maths ability between Year 1 and Year 2, although this was not the case for the event ordering task. The present study provides strong evidence that domain‐general ordering abilities play an important role in the development of children's maths skills at the beginning of formal education.     

Idiosyncratic effects of interviewer behavior on the accuracy of children's responses

Children are interviewed to provide information about past events in various contexts (e.g., police interviews, court proceedings, therapeutic interviews). During an interview, various factors may influence the accuracy of children's responses to questions about recent events. However, behavioral research in this area is limited. Sparling et al. (2011) showed that children frequently provided inaccurate responses to questions about video clips they just watched depending on the antecedents (i.e., the way a question was asked) and consequences (i.e., the response of the interviewer to their answers). In the current study, we replicated and extended the procedures reported by Sparling et al. and found that two of five children were sensitive to the various antecedents and consequences that we manipulated. Our findings indicate a need for more research in this area to determine the relevant environmental variables that affect children's response accuracy.     

Children's equivalence judgments: Crossmapping effects

Preschoolers made numerical comparisons between sets with varying degrees of shared surface similarity. When surface similarity was pitted against numerical equivalence (i.e., crossmapping), children made fewer number matches than when surface similarity was neutral (i.e, all sets contained the same objects). Only children who understood the number words for the target sets performed above chance in the crossmapping condition. These findings are consistent with previous research on children's non-numerical comparisons (e.g., [Rattermann, M. J., & Gentner, D. (1998). The effect of language on similarity: The use of relational labels improves young children's performance in a mapping task. In K. Holyoak, D. Gentner, & B. Kokinov (Eds.), Advances in analogy research: Integration of theory and data from cognitive, computational, and neural sciences (pp. 274–282). Sofia: New Bulgarian University; Smith, L. B. (1993). The concept of same. In H. W. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior, Vol. 24 (pp. 215–252). New York: Academic Press]) and suggest that the same mechanisms may underlie numerical development.     

Numeracy skills in young children as predictors of mathematical competence

As mathematical competence is linked to educational success, professional achievement, and even a country's economic growth, researchers have been interested in early predictors for quite some time. Although there have been numerous studies on domain-specific numerical abilities predicting later mathematical competence in preschool children, research in toddlers is scarce, especially regarding additional influential aspects, such as domain-general cognitive abilities and the children's social background. Using a large-scale dataset, the present study examined predictive effects of numeracy skills in 17-month-olds for later mathematical achievement. We found small, positive effects, even when controlling for child-related variables (i.e., age and sex) and the children's social background (i.e., maternal education and household language). Additionally, we compared results with a domain-general categorization task and found no distinct effect on mathematical competence. The present results are discussed with regard to the specificities of the dataset, as well as implications for future studies on predictors of mathematical competence.     

Cognitive modifiability as a function of mother–child mediated learning strategies,mothers' acceptance–rejection,and children's personality

This study investigated (a) the effects of mediated learning experience (MLE) in mother–child interactions on cognitive modifiability as measured by dynamic assessment, (b) the effects of mothers' acceptance–rejection towards their children and the children's personality on the mothers' MLE strategies, (c) the combined effects of the mothers' acceptance–rejection, children's personality, and MLE strategies on children's cognitive modifiability, and (d) the prediction of cognitive modifiability by MLE interactions in two distinct conditions: free-play and structured. Fifty-four mother–child dyads (26 boys and 28 girls) in grade 2 were videotaped interacting in two situations: free-play and structured. The interactions were analysed with observation of mediation instrument using five criteria: intentionality and reciprocity, transcendence, meaning, feelings of competence, and regulation of behaviour. The children were administered the parent acceptance–rejection questionnaire, the personality assessment questionnaire, and the children's inferential thinking modifiability test. A distal–proximal factors of cognitive modifiability model was used to explain causal paths among mothers' acceptance–rejection and children's personality (distal) on MLE (proximal), and of both on children's cognitive modifiability. A structural equation model analysis revealed that (a) all MLE criteria were predicted by the distal factors of mothers' acceptance–rejection and children's personality, (b) none of the mothers' attitudes or children's personality factors explained the children's cognitive factors, (c) MLE criteria of transcendence and regulation of behaviour explained the children's CITM-post-teaching score but not the CITM-pre-teaching score. The results are discussed in relation to Feuerstein's MLE theory and Tzuriel's previous results with preschool children. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Bonds that Remind Us: Maternal Reminiscing for Bonding Purposes in Relation to Children's Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance

The present study investigated the relation between characteristics of mother–child reminiscing and children's perceived competence and social acceptance. We focused specifically on conversations for bonding purposes (i.e., conversations that serve the function of maintaining or strengthening the relationship between the child and the mother) as bonding may be a particularly salient context for the development of self‐views. Fifty‐two mothers and their 4‐year‐old children engaged in a past‐talk conversation where mothers were instructed to try to bond with their children. Children's perceived cognitive and physical competence and maternal and peer acceptance, along with language, were measured. Our results indicated that characteristics of maternal talk, particularly maternal support of child's autonomy and child‐centred content, were strongly related to children's perceived social acceptance. Although weaker, there were also associations between maternal talk and children's perceived competence. Results are discussed in light of theories arguing in favour of parent–child discourse as a mechanism for self‐development. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of quantity and quality of home proximal processes on Dutch,Surinamese–Dutch and Turkish–Dutch pre‐schoolers’ cognitive development

This study examines the effects of mother–child literacy and problem solving interactions on 3–4‐year‐old children's cognitive development in a sample of Dutch middle‐class, Dutch lower‐class, Surinamese and Turkish immigrant families (n=130). Following the bioecological model of Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, mother–child book reading and problem solving interactions are viewed as proximal processes actualizing genetic cognitive potential. Interactions are studied from a quantitative perspective, based on questionnaire data, concerning frequency of exposure to these interactions, and a qualitative perspective, based on observational data, concerning affective quality and cognitive content. The study was designed as a 1 year longitudinal study. It was found that effects of mother–child interactions on cognitive development differed across the groups, controlling for earlier cognitive competence and family's SES. The findings are interpreted within the frame of the bioecological model and the behavioral genetic research paradigm. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Action mechanisms for social cognition: behavioral and neural correlates of developing Theory of Mind

Many psychological theories posit foundational links between two fundamental constructs: (1) our ability to produce, perceive, and represent action; and (2) our ability to understand the meaning and motivation behind the action (i.e. Theory of Mind; ToM). This position is contentious, however, and long‐standing competing theories of social‐cognitive development debate roles for basic action‐processing in ToM. Developmental research is key to investigating these hypotheses, but whether individual differences in neural and behavioral measures of motor action relate to social‐cognitive development is unknown. We examined 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children's (N = 26) EEG mu‐desynchronization during production of object‐directed action, and explored associations between mu‐desynchronization and children's behavioral motor skills, behavioral action‐representation abilities, and behavioral ToM. For children with high (but not low) mu‐desynchronization, motor skill related to action‐representation abilities, and action‐representation mediated relations between motor skill and ToM. Results demonstrate novel foundational links between action‐processing and ToM, suggesting that basic motor action may be a key mechanism for social‐cognitive development, thus shedding light on the origins and emergence of higher social cognition.