Metacognition and low achievement in mathematics: The effect of training in the use of metacognitive skills to solve mathematical word problems

The central question underlying this study was whether metacognition training could enhance the two metacognition components—knowledge and skills—and the mathematical problem-solving capacities of normal children in grade 3. We also investigated whether metacognitive training had a differential effect according to the children's mathematics level. A total of 48 participants took part in this study, divided into an experimental and a control group, each subdivided into a lower and a normal achievers group. The training programme took an interactive approach in accordance with Schraw's (1998 Schraw, G. 1998. Promoting general metacognitive awareness. Instructional Science, 26: 113–125. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) recommendation and was carried out over five training sessions. Results indicated that children in the training group had significantly higher post-test metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive skills, and mathematical problem-solving scores. In addition, metacognitive training was particularly beneficial to the low achievers. Thus metacognitive training enabled the low achievers to make progress and solve the same number of problems on the post-test as the normal achievers solved on the pre-test.     

Executive Function,Intellectual Decline and Daily Living Skills

ABSTRACT

Understanding the cognitive changes associated with compromised daily living skills in elderly individuals is important for making appropriate recommendations about the capacity for independent functioning. To this end, we retrospectively examined data from 92 elderly individuals presenting with cognitive decline who were administered measures of executive functioning, general intelligence, and daily living skills. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between executive functioning and daily living skills, while controlling for age, depression, and either IQ decline or current IQ. Executive functioning accounted for additional variance in a broad range of daily living skills after controlling for IQ decline. When FSIQ was used in the regression model rather than IQ decline, executive functioning was no longer uniquely associated with daily living skills. Executive functions appear to be important for daily living skills until a critical threshold of low intellectual functioning is reached, reflecting the combined influence of premorbid ability and the extent of intellectual decline. Our results suggest that understanding the relative contribution of different cognitive domains to functional decline in elderly individuals should take into account general intellectual functioning and estimated decline, and that the initiation and/or persistence of self-directed cognitive processes may be important for adaptive daily functioning. These findings have implications for making more evidence-based recommendations about the capacity for independent living.     

The role of self-regulation strategies and self-efficacy perceptions in successful weight loss maintenance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the self-regulatory strategies which people use to lose, maintain, or manage their weight, and to assess their self-efficacy perceptions to implement these strategies. Thirty-three (N = 33) undergraduate college students were divided into three groups based on their past weight loss experience and confirmed by their current Body Mass Index: (a) overweight participants who tried but failed to lose weight, (b) participants who used to be overweight but lost significant weight and kept it off for at least six months, and (c) participants with an optimal weight. All participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA and correlation analyses. Participants who used self-regulatory strategies such as goal-setting, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, environmental structuring, time management, social assistance and information seeking were better able to maintain or lose weight. Overweight participants reported significantly less strategy use than participants who had lost weight or who had a healthy weight. In addition, overweight participants had lower self-efficacy perceptions about implementing strategies than did healthy weight participants or participants who had successfully lost weight. Finally, a path analysis revealed that participants who reported high self-efficacy perceptions and applied their strategies persistently in the face of difficulties were more likely to successfully manage their weight.     

Gender Differences and Cognitive Correlates of Mathematical Skills in School-Aged Children

Published information concerning the influence of gender on mathematical ability tests has been controversial. The present study examines the performance of school-aged boys and girls from two age groups on several mathematical tasks and analyzes the predictive value of a verbal fluency test and a spatial test on those mathematical tasks. More specifically, our research attempts to answer the following two questions: (1) Are gender differences in mathematical test performance among children interrelated with age and (2) do verbal and spatial nonmathematical tests mediate gender effects on mathematical test performance? Two hundred and seventy-eight 7- to 10-year-old children and 248 13- to 16-year-olds were selected from schools in Colombia and Mexico (231 boys and 295 girls). The age effect was found to be significant for all measures, with scores improving with age. Results showed that boys and girls in both age groups scored similarly in most subtests, but that differences emerged in the performance of mental mathematical operations and in resolving arithmetical problems. In the latter – but not in mental math – older boys outperformed older girls, whereas no gender differences were observed in the younger groups. After controlling for age, it was found that the spatial test was, indeed, a significant mediator of gender effects, while the verbal task was not.     

Cognitive factors in the explanation of the mismatch between confidence and competence in performing basic life support

Abstract

The main approach to rectifying the well documented poor basic life support (BLS) skills of doctors and nurses, based on a Skills Model, has met with only partial success. This study compares the utility of a Skills Model with one that incorporates a cognitive component in predicting BLS skills. Outcome-expectancy, self-efficacy, training and experience of BLS, and BLS ability were assessed in 53 trained nurses. Ability was unrelated to training or experience of BLS. Nurses who scored highest on the BLS skills assessment perceived the procedure as significantly more successful than those with lower scores. Self-efficacy was unrelated to ability, but was related to status: senior nurses were significantly more confident but no more competent in performing BLS than junior nurses. Nurses who had attended more arrests, while more confident, were no more competent than those who had attended fewer. Assessment of BLS skills reduced self-efficacy beliefs. A model for predicting the relationship between self-assessed ability and objectively assessed skill is outlined.     

Exposure to Interpersonal Violence and Socioemotional Adjustment in Economically Disadvantaged Preschoolers

Focusing specifically on the experiences of economically disadvantaged preschoolers, the relations between interpersonal violence exposure, behavior problems, and social skills were examined in both the home and school settings. In this racially and ethnically diverse sample of preschoolers from poor, urban households (N = 64; 3–6 years old; 56% female), many children (33%) had been exposed to at least 1 type of interpersonal violence, and even more (70%) had been exposed to any type of potentially traumatic event (PTE). Although exposure to interpersonal violence was not directly associated with parent- or teacher-reported behavior problems or social skills, a significant interaction effect was observed between exposure to interpersonal violence and teacher-reported internalizing problems in predicting teacher-reported social skills; specifically, for children with the highest levels of internalizing problems, a positive relation between interpersonal violence exposure and social skills was observed. This indirect effect was observed only in the school setting, whereas children in this high-risk sample appeared to demonstrate resilience in the home setting. Given these high rates of exposure, additional, clinically relevant research is needed to inform interventions for this vulnerable population.     

Visual span and change detection in soccer: An expertise study

There is evidence to suggest that sports experts are able to extract more perceptual information from a single fixation than novices when exposed to meaningful tasks that are specific to their field of expertise. In particular, Reingold et al. (2001) showed that chess experts use a larger visual span including fewer fixations when compared to their less skilled counterparts. The aim of the present study was to examine whether also in a more complex environment, namely soccer, skilled players use a larger visual span and fewer fixations than less skilled players when attempting to recognise players’ positions. To this end, we combined the gaze-contingent window technique with the change detection paradigm. Results seem to suggest that skilled soccer players do not use a larger visual span than less skilled players. However, skilled soccer players showed significantly fewer fixations of longer duration than their less skilled counterparts, supporting the notion that experts may extract more information from a single glance.     

Longitudinal associations between gender-typed skills and interests and their links to occupational outcomes

Although gender-based occupational segregation has declined in past decades, the world of work remains segregated by gender. Grounded in research showing that individuals tend to choose jobs that match their interests and skills, this study examined the longitudinal associations between gendered activity interests and skills from middle childhood through adolescence and tested gendered interests and skills, measured in adolescence, as predictors of occupational outcomes in young adulthood. Data were collected from 402 participants at four time points—when they averaged 10, 12, 16, and 25 years old. Results revealed that the longitudinal linkages between male-typed interests and skills were bidirectional, that both male-typed interests and skills in adolescence predicted working in male-typed occupations in young adulthood, and that skills, but not interests, predicted income. In contrast, female-typed interests predicted female-typed skills, but not the reverse, adolescent female-typed skills (but not interests) predicted working in female-typed occupations in young adulthood, and there were no links between female-typed interests or skills and income. Discussion focuses on the differential meanings and developmental implications of male- versus female-typed interests and skills.