Interactive apps prevent gender discrepancies in early‐grade mathematics in a low‐income country in sub‐Sahara Africa

Globally, gender differences are reported in the early acquisition of reading and mathematics as girls tend to outperform boys in reading, whereas boys tend to outperform girls in mathematics. This can have long‐term impact resulting in an under‐representation of girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects. Recent research suggests that sociocultural factors account for differences across genders in the acquisition of these foundational skills. In this study, we investigated whether a new technology‐based intervention, that included activities accessible to both boys and girls, can reduce gender differences from emerging during the early primary school years. The novel instructional method used in this study employed apps developed by onebillion© delivered individually through touch‐screen tablets. Over a series of experiments conducted in Malawi, a low‐income country in sub‐Sahara Africa, we found that when children were exposed to standard pedagogical practice typical gender differences emerged over the first grade (Experiment 1). In contrast, boys and girls learnt equally well with the new interactive apps designed to support the learning of mathematics (Experiment 2) and reading (Experiment 3). When implemented at the start of primary education, before significant gender discrepancies become established, this novel technology‐based intervention can prevent significant gender effects for mathematics. These results demonstrate that different instructional practices influence the emergence of gender disparities in early mathematics. Digital interventions can mitigate gender differences in countries where standard pedagogical instruction typically hinders girls from acquiring early mathematical skills at the same rate as boys. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55x-6hhAY9M&feature=youtu.be     

小学二年级学生的字形预视效应

字形信息在汉语阅读中具有重要作用。小学二年级是儿童阅读流畅性发展的重要时期,而对注视点右侧字词的预加工及所获得的预视效应是影响流畅阅读的重要因素。本研究考察了字形信息在二年级学生预加工中的作用。实验1采用副中央凹启动范式发现,在词汇识别任务中,二年级学生在100ms副中央凹启动时间下,表现出字形预视效应。实验2采用边界范式发现,在句子默读任务中,二年级学生能够获取副中央凹处的字形信息。结果表明,二年级学生在阅读中能够使用副中央凹处的字形信息,促进随后中央凹处的词汇加工。     

颜色交替文本促进小学高年级聋生篇章阅读的眼动研究

聋生由于听力损失,导致其在阅读方面存在一定的困难。如何提高聋生的阅读效率是一个具有重要的实践价值的课题。本研究采用眼动追踪技术,以29名小学高年级聋生为研究对象,考察颜色交替词标记形式对小学高年级聋生篇章阅读的促进作用。结果发现,无论是眼动指标的整体分析还是局部分析,均支持颜色交替词标记文本可以有效地提高小学高年级聋生的语篇阅读效率。本研究结果对于训练提高小学高年级聋生的阅读效率具有一定的启发意义。     

聋人阅读中的副中央凹视觉注意增强效应——来自消失文本的证据

为适应失聪后的复杂环境, 聋人视觉注意资源的空间分布发生改变, 这对聋人的阅读加工产生了影响。本研究尝试提出“聋人阅读中的副中央凹视觉注意增强效应”, 并采用消失文本范式考察这一效应对聋人读者副中央凹及中央凹处词汇信息视觉编码效率的影响。结果发现, 在词n+1短暂呈现时, 聋生快速编码副中央凹处文本信息的加工效率与其生理年龄匹配组相近, 高于阅读能力匹配组; 但在词n短暂呈现时, 聋生快速编码中央凹处文本信息的加工效率落后于健听控制组, 其词汇通达和总阅读效率均受阻。综上所述, 本研究证实了聋人阅读中的副中央凹视觉注意增强效应, 表现为副中央凹加工效率增强, 但中央凹加工效率受阻。     

心智游移、工作记忆对初中生阅读理解的影响

心智游移（mind wandering,MW）是一种特殊的注意分散状态,是个体内部自发的一种非自主内源性意识体验。选取101名初一学生被试,采用心智游移频率问卷和SART测验研究初中生的心智游移特质和状态,并分别考察两种角度中的心智游移、工作记忆对初中生阅读理解的影响,结果表明：（1）初中生的心智游移相对较低;（2）心智游移影响初中生的散文阅读;（3）工作记忆影响初中生的散文阅读,且心智游移在其中起调节作用。     

发展性阅读障碍与小脑异常：小脑的功能和两者的因果关系

发展性阅读障碍(下文简称为"阅读障碍")不仅会影响个人的终身发展,还会对社会造成沉重的经济负担,深入探讨相关的神经机制,对实现阅读障碍的早期预测和干预十分重要。以往关于阅读障碍神经机制的模型多集中于大脑,近些年的研究发现,阅读障碍也与小脑异常有关,但到目前为止我们仍不清楚两者的关系。通过总结最新的研究进展,我们发现小脑在阅读障碍中可能发挥着多种功能,且小脑异常与阅读障碍可能互为因果。在此基础之上,我们提出了"阅读中小脑与大脑的功能映射假说",旨在从一个全新的角度揭示小脑与阅读的关系,以及两者与大脑的关系。相关内容对全面揭示阅读障碍的神经机制,以及小脑在高级认知加工中的作用,具有重要的启示意义。     

Time Reading in Middle and Secondary School Students: The Influence of Basic-Numerical Abilities

Abstract

Time reading skills are central for the management of personal and professional life. However, little is known about the differential influence of basic numerical abilities on analog and digital time reading in general and in middle and secondary school students in particular. The present study investigated the influence of basic numerical skills separately for analog and digital time reading in N?=?709 students from 5th to 8th grade. The present findings suggest that the development of time reading skills is not completed by the end of primary school. Results indicated that aspects of magnitude manipulation and arithmetic fact knowledge predicted analog time reading significantly over and above the influence of age. Furthermore, results showed that spatial representations of number magnitude, magnitude manipulation, arithmetic fact knowledge, and conceptual knowledge were significant predictors of digital time reading beyond general cognitive ability and sex. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to show differential effects of basic numerical abilities on analog and digital time reading skills in middle and secondary school students. As time readings skills are crucial for everyday life, these results are highly relevant to better understand basic numerical processes underlying time reading.     

The relationship between phonological processing and arithmetic in children with learning disabilities

Phonological processing skills have not only been shown to be important for reading skills, but also for arithmetic skills. Specifically, previous research in typically developing children has suggested that phonological processing skills may be more closely related to arithmetic problems that are solved through fact retrieval (e.g., remembering the solution from memory) than procedural computation (e.g., counting). However, the relationship between phonological processing and arithmetic in children with learning disabilities (LDs) has not been investigated. Yet, understanding these relationships in children with LDs is especially important because it can help elucidate the cognitive underpinnings of math difficulties, explain why reading and math disabilities frequently co-occur, and provide information on which cognitive skills to target for interventions. In 63 children with LDs, we examined the relationship between different phonological processing skills (phonemic awareness, phonological memory, and rapid serial naming) and arithmetic. We distinguished between arithmetic problems that tend to be solved with fact retrieval versus procedural computation to determine whether phonological processing skills are differentially related to these two arithmetic processes. We found that phonemic awareness, but not phonological memory or rapid serial naming, was related to arithmetic fact retrieval. We also found no association between any phonological processing skills and procedural computation. These results converge with prior research in typically developing children and suggest that phonemic awareness is also related to arithmetic fact retrieval in children with LD. These results raise the possibility that phonemic awareness training might improve both reading and arithmetic fact retrieval skills.

Research Highlights

• Relationships between phonological processing and various arithmetic skills were investigated in children with learning disabilities (LDs) for the first time.
• We found phonemic awareness was related to arithmetic involving fact retrieval, but not to arithmetic involving procedural computation in LDs.
• The results suggest that phonemic awareness is not only important to skilled reading, but also to some aspects of arithmetic.
• These results raise the question of whether intervention in phonemic awareness might improve arithmetic fact retrieval skills.

     

Literacy skills seem to fuel literacy enjoyment,rather than vice versa

Children who like to read and write tend to be better at it. This association is typically interpreted as enjoyment impacting engagement in literacy activities, which boosts literacy skills. We fitted direction-of-causation models to partial data of 3690 Finnish twins aged 12. Literacy skills were rated by the twins’ teachers and literacy enjoyment by the twins themselves. A bivariate twin model showed substantial genetic influences on literacy skills (70%) and literacy enjoyment (35%). In both skills and enjoyment, shared-environmental influences explained about 20% in each. The best-fitting direction-of-causation model showed that skills impacted enjoyment, while the influence in the other direction was zero. The genetic influences on skills influenced enjoyment, likely via the skills→enjoyment path. This indicates an active gene-environment correlation: children with an aptitude for good literacy skills are more likely to enjoy reading and seek out literacy activities. To a lesser extent, it was also the shared-environmental influences on children's skills that propagated to influence children's literacy enjoyment. Environmental influences that foster children's literacy skills (e.g., families and schools), also foster children's love for reading and writing. These findings underline the importance of nurturing children's literacy skills.

Highlights

• It's known that how much children enjoy reading and writing and how good they are at it correlates ∼0.30, but causality remains unknown.
• We tested the direction of causation in 3690 twins aged 12.
• Literacy skills impacted literacy enjoyment, but not the other way around.
• Genetics influence children's literacy skills and how much they like and choose to read and write, indicating genetic niche picking.

     

Scripts we live by: on inheriting canonical texts

ABSTRACT

In this article, I theorize the interpretation of harmful canonical texts with special reference to John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. As a result of the actions and rhetoric of some of its North American evangelical readers, the Institutes has come to function as an intellectual foundation for certain expressions of modern homophobia. In conversation with Jacques Derrida on inheritance and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick on reparativity, I thus consider how queer evangelicals (especially those who wish to continue identifying themselves as such) ought to engage both Calvin’s text, particularly, as well as, more generally, those other canonical texts that are sources of trauma. In so doing, I proffer a capacious view of interpretation as not only what one says but also how one lives.