scholarly journals Behavioral Executive Functions Among Adolescents With Mathematics Difficulties

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 578-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marja E. Holm ◽  
Pirjo Aunio ◽  
Piia M. Björn ◽  
Liisa Klenberg ◽  
Johan Korhonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Mathematics Performance ◽  
Mathematics Assessment ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Male Adolescents ◽  
Mathematics Difficulties ◽  
Directing Attention ◽  
Shifting Attention

This study investigates behavioral executive functions (EFs) in the mathematics classroom context among adolescents with different mathematics performance levels. The EF problems were assessed by teachers using a behavioral rating inventory. Using cutoff scores on a standardized mathematics assessment, groups with mathematics difficulties (MD; n = 124), low mathematics performance (LA; n = 140), and average or higher scores (AC; n = 355) were identified. Results showed that the MD group had more problems with distractibility, directing attention, shifting attention, initiative, execution of action, planning, and evaluation than the LA group, whereas the differences in hyperactivity, impulsivity, and sustaining attention were not significant. Compared to the AC group, the MD group showed more problems with all behavioral EFs except hyperactivity and impulsivity, while the LA group showed more problems only with shifting attention. Male adolescents showed more behavioral EF problems than female adolescents, but this gender difference was negligible within the MD group. The practical implications of the results are discussed.

scholarly journals Infants in Control: Prospective Motor Control and Executive Functions in Action Development

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna M. Gottwald
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Motion Tracking ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Action Sequences ◽  
High Level

This thesis assesses the link between action and cognition early in development. Thus the notion of an embodied cognition is investigated by tying together two levels of action control in the context of reaching in infancy: prospective motor control and executive functions. The ability to plan our actions is the inevitable foundation of reaching our goals. Thus actions can be stratified on different levels of control. There is the relatively low level of prospective motor control and the comparatively high level of cognitive control. Prospective motor control is concerned with goal-directed actions on the level of single movements and movement combinations of our body and ensures purposeful, coordinated movements, such as reaching for a cup of coffee. Cognitive control, in the context of this thesis more precisely referred to as executive functions, deals with goal-directed actions on the level of whole actions and action combinations and facilitates directedness towards mid- and long-term goals, such as finishing a doctoral thesis. Whereas prospective motor control and executive functions are well studied in adulthood, the early development of both is not sufficiently understood.This thesis comprises three empirical motion-tracking studies that shed light on prospective motor control and executive functions in infancy. Study I investigated the prospective motor control of current actions by having 14-month-olds lift objects of varying weights. In doing so, multi-cue integration was addressed by comparing the use of visual and non-visual information to non-visual information only. Study II examined the prospective motor control of future actions in action sequences by investigating reach-to-place actions in 14-month-olds. Thus the extent to which Fitts’ law can explain movement duration in infancy was addressed. Study III lifted prospective motor control to a higher that is cognitive level, by investigating it relative to executive functions in 18-months-olds.Main results were that 14-month-olds are able to prospectively control their manual actions based on object weight. In this action planning process, infants use different sources of information. Beyond this ability to prospectively control their current action, 14-month-olds also take future actions into account and plan their actions based on the difficulty of the subsequentaction in action sequences. In 18-month-olds, prospective motor control in manual actions, such as reaching, is related to early executive functions, as demonstrated for behavioral prohibition and working memory. These findings are consistent with the idea that executive functions derive from prospective motor control. I suggest that executive functions could be grounded in the development of motor control. In other words, early executive functions should be seen as embodied.

scholarly journals Mathematics Classroom Assessment: A Framework for Designing Assessment Tasks and Interpreting Students’ Responses

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1088-1106
Author(s):  
Eleni Demosthenous ◽  
Constantinos Christou ◽  
Demetra Pitta-Pantazi
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Mathematics Learning ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Mathematics Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tasks ◽  
Grade Classroom ◽  
Do So

Classroom assessment could contribute substantially to improving students’ mathematics learning. The process of classroom assessment involves decisions about how to elicit evidence, how to interpret it, and how to use it for teaching and learning. However, the field still needs to further explore how assessment tasks could guide forthcoming instructional adjustments in the mathematics classroom. Towards the endeavor of unpacking the classroom assessment, we present a framework that provides a lens to capture the interplay between the design of mathematics assessment tasks and the analysis of students’ responses. To do so, we relied on existing frameworks of mathematics assessment tasks, and on issues that pertain to the design of tasks. The proposed framework consists of three types of mathematics assessment tasks, their respective competencies, and the characterization of students’ responses. The framework is exemplified with students’ responses from a fourth-grade classroom, and is also used to sketch different students’ profiles. Issues regarding the interpretation of students’ responses and the planning of instructional adjustments are discussed.

Using the Virtual Action Planning-Supermarket for Evaluating Executive Functions in People with Stroke

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 879-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Josman ◽  
Rachel Kizony ◽  
Esther Hof ◽  
Katalin Goldenberg ◽  
Patrice L. Weiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Action Planning

Improving the Mathematics Performance of Second-Grade Students with Mathematics Difficulties through an Early Numeracy Intervention

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Pedrotty Bryant ◽  
Kathleen Hughes Pfannenstiel ◽  
Brian R. Bryant ◽  
Greg Roberts ◽  
Anna-Mari Fall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Performance ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tier 2 ◽  
Early Numeracy ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Second Grade Students ◽  
Mathematics Difficulties ◽  
Whole Number ◽  
Tier 2 Intervention

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an early numeracy Tier 2 intervention on the mathematics performance of second-grade students with persistent mathematics difficulties. Whole number content and instructional design features were used to boost performance in second-grade early numeracy concepts and skills. Researchers employed a pretest-posttest control group design with randomized assignment of 83 students to the treatment condition and 38 students to the comparison condition. The research team’s mathematics interventionists delivered instruction four days per week for 20 weeks to small groups of second-grade students who were identified with persistent mathematics difficulties. Proximal and distal measures were used to determine the effects of the intervention. Findings showed that students in the treatment group outperformed students in the comparison group on the proximal measure of mathematics performance. There were no differences between groups on the problem-solving measures.

Mathematics performance on integers of students with mathematics difficulties

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 100776
Author(s):  
Diane Pedrotty Bryant ◽  
Brian R. Bryant ◽  
Barbara Dougherty ◽  
Greg Roberts ◽  
Kathleen Hughes Pfannenstiel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Performance ◽  
Mathematics Difficulties

scholarly journals The development of pedagogical content knowledge of a mathematics teaching intern: the role of collaboration, curriculum, and classroom context

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bridgette Bond Almond Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Pedagogical Content Knowledge ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Pedagogical Content

In this study I examined the role of collaboration, curriculum, and the classroom context in the development of pedagogical content knowledge of a mathematics teaching intern. Additionally, I investigated the nature of the collaborative process between the teaching intern and his mentor teacher as they collaborated on action (during structured planning time) and in action (while students were present). The teaching internship resided in a seventh-grade mathematics classroom during the teaching of a probability unit from a standards-based curriculum, Connected Mathematics Project. Using existing research, a conceptual framework was developed and multiple data sources (audio taped collaborations, observations of the intern's teaching practices, semi-structured interviews, and a mathematics pedagogy assessment) were analyzed in order to understand the teaching intern's development of knowledge of instructional strategies, knowledge of student understandings, curricular knowledge, and conceptions of purpose for teaching probability.Results identified numerous dilemmas related to planning and implementing instruction. Although the teaching intern developed pedagogical content knowledge, he often experienced difficulty accessing it while teaching. Through collaboration, curriculum, and the classroom context, the teaching intern learned to incorporate his pedagogical content knowledge in instruction. Analysis revealed that as he gained new knowledge he was able to shift his focus from content to the use of instructional strategies for teaching and learning. The curriculum was the primary focus of collaboration and initiated the intern's examination of the learning-to-teach process. Collaboration on action and collaboration in action proved to be essential elements in the development of pedagogical content knowledge.

scholarly journals Increasing smoking cessation adherence: Do we need to consider the role of executive function and rumination?

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Marianna Masiero ◽  
Mark Cropley ◽  
Gabriella Pravettoni
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Smoking Behavior ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Moderator Effects ◽  
Quitting Smoking ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Directing Attention ◽  
Potential Moderator

Despite the cost and health consequences, a large number of people continue to smoke cigarettes worldwide every day. Notwithstanding, there have been a number of interventions to help people stop smoking but, in general, these have produced only limited success, and better interventions are needed. Accruing evidence affirmed that rumination and executive function play a pivotal role in cigarette smoking behavior, and in this editorial, we describe and discuss the key findings between these constructs and smoking, and argue that an impairment in executive functions does not act alone, but interacts with rumination by directing attention to depressive thoughts, thereby reducing the ability of smokers to engage in constructive behaviors, such as quitting smoking. Finally, we offer a new theory-driven model based on a deep understanding of the interactions between executive functions and rumination and potential moderator effects.

scholarly journals The frontal aslant tract and its role in executive functions: a quantitative tractography study in glioma patients

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maud J. F. Landers ◽  
Stephan P. L. Meesters ◽  
Martine van Zandvoort ◽  
Wouter de Baene ◽  
Geert-Jan M. Rutten
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Cognitive Test ◽  
Neurosurgical Procedures ◽  
Critical Pathway ◽  
Frontal Aslant Tract ◽  
The Right ◽  
Shifting Attention

AbstractFocal white matter lesions can cause cognitive impairments due to disconnections within or between networks. There is some preliminary evidence that there are specific hubs and fiber pathways that should be spared during surgery to retain cognitive performance. A tract potentially involved in important higher-level cognitive processes is the frontal aslant tract. It roughly connects the posterior parts of the inferior frontal gyrus and the superior frontal gyrus. Functionally, the left frontal aslant tract has been associated with speech and the right tract with executive functions. However, there currently is insufficient knowledge about the right frontal aslant tract’s exact functional importance. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the right frontal aslant tract in executive functions via a lesion-symptom approach. We retrospectively examined 72 patients with frontal glial tumors and correlated measures from tractography (distance between tract and tumor, and structural integrity of the tract) with cognitive test performances. The results indicated involvement of the right frontal aslant tract in shifting attention and letter fluency. This involvement was not found for the left tract. Although this study was exploratory, these converging findings contribute to a better understanding of the functional frontal subcortical anatomy. Shifting attention and letter fluency are important for healthy cognitive functioning, and when impaired they may greatly influence a patient’s wellbeing. Further research is needed to assess whether or not damage to the right frontal aslant tract causes permanent cognitive impairments, and consequently identifies this tract as a critical pathway that should be taken into account during neurosurgical procedures.

A Joint Vision for Classroom Assessment

1992 ◽  
Vol 85 (8) ◽  
pp. 612-615
Author(s):  
Ralph W. Cain ◽  
Patricia A. Kenney
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Mathematics Assessment ◽  
Instructional Decisions ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Multiple Assessment

The NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics proposes a vision for assessment in the mathematics classroom that would “help teachers better understand what students know and make meaningful instructional decisions” (NCTM 1989, 189). For assessment to be truly aligned with the mathematics curriculum, teachers would give more emphasis to taking a holistic view of mathematics—using multiple assessment methods, including written, oral, and performance formats, and incorporating calculators, computers, and manipulatives as part of assessment. Thus, mathematics teachers would be empowered to trust their own abilities and judgments in the area of mathematics assessment (Clarke, Clarke, and Lovitt 1990; Cooney and Badger 1990; Schoen 1989; Webb and Briars 1990).

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