The Association Between Parents’ Growth Mindset and Children’s Persistence and Academic Skills

Parents’ educational beliefs are thought to guide children’s early development in school. The present study explored the association between parent’s growth mindset and elementary school-aged children’s self-reported persistence, as well as teacher-reported reading and math skills in 102 dyads. Findings showed that children self-reported greater persistence when their parents held more growth mindset. Teachers also rated students as more capable readers when their parents endorsed a growth, rather than fixed, mindset. Additional analysis indicated that although the effect of parents’ growth mindset on children’s reading skills became non-significant once SES was controlled, the positive association between parents’ mindset and children’s persistence was unaffected by SES. Our study provides evidence about the intergenerational association of motivational tendencies at an early age, even when children may not be able to develop a coherent system of motivational beliefs of their own.

Adding up fine motor skills: developmental relations between manual dexterity and numerical abilities

We explore the relationship between mathematical skills and motor skills across three age groups of normally developing children. The existence of such a relationship is postulated in classical accounts of human development. In contemporary research, the existence of a relationship between motor development and the development of abstract concepts may form a crucial piece of evidence for theories of embodied cognition. Existing studies suggest a link between fine motor skills and various numerical and mathematical tasks in young children; however, there are few attempts to measure the strength of this relationship across different ages. We use a cross-sectional design to investigate the link between fine motor and mathematical skills in children in Kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 4th grade. The results show that correlational patterns vary in the three ages; while in Kindergarten manual dexterity of the dominant hand is related to math skills, in 2nd grade the manual dexterity of the nondominant hand is related to math skills, and finally, in 4th grade no such correlations are observable.

MEMBANGUN SIKAP POSITIF UNTUK MENGHINDARI SIKAP PHOBIA MATEMATIKA

Math phobias are anxiety on math skills that happen to most learners. Anxiety is demonstrated by the existence of continuous fear against the object of mathematics and its learning situation. To avoid this, the facilitator must create a situation that allows the learners to build their confidence in math tasks. Math is characterized by abstract ideas in the form of abstract symbols that require delivery within a less abstract language to avoid understanding the idea. A positive attitude towards mathematics appears closely related to the previous experience in both the mathematical object and the classroom situation. Therefore, developing a positive attitude against math phobia requires the content to be delivered in an attractive manner in every learning process. The presentation of mathematical formulas should be adjusted according to the learning basic ability and sometimes accompanied by an inductive approach. As the facilitator of learning, the teacher must seek a learning environment that can encourage learners to behave positively and passionately in learning mathematics.

A Learning Media Based on Hands-on Activity in Mathematics for Students Special School

The use of hands-on activity-based mathematics learning media for mentally retarded children and cerebral palsy is largely unexplored. Meanwhile, observations of children with special needs (mental retardation and cerebral palsy) at school have not shown good basic math skills, such as counting, recognizing numbers, recognizing letters, performing math operations (for example, addition and subtraction). This study aims to develop a hands-on activity-based learning media model for mentally retarded children and cerebral palsy to improve understanding of mathematics in reading, writing, and arithmetic subjects. The method used is Research and Development, where the subject is the Special School in Bandung, Indonesia. The instruments used in this study were documentation, classroom observation, interviews, and tests of mathematical comprehension abilities. The results showed that a hands-on activity-based learning model could be used to improve basic math skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic for children with mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

Teaching mathematics to students with Down syndrome in the basic stage in Palestine in the light of some experimental studies and contemporary trends: تفعيل تدريس الرياضيات لتلاميذ متلازمة داون بالمرحلة الأساسية في فلسطين في ضوء بعض الدراسات التجريبية والتوجهات المعاصرة

This study aimed to find mechanisms, methods, and strategies that should be considered in teaching mathematics to students with Down syndrome. The study relied on the descriptive approach, as it focused on theoretical literature and previous studies related to the topic. The study concluded that the process of teaching mathematics derives from the strategy based on the transition from perceived to abstract, and the process of teaching mathematics passes through three stages, the first of which is the sensory stage, which depends on the tools that the child can pick up and touch, then the semi-sensory stage and includes pictures and drawings related to reality and close to the environment Child, ending with the abstract phase based on the use of symbols. The study also found the ability of Down syndrome students to learn many basic math skills and concepts such as the skill of classification, counting, addition and subtraction, the study also found that the success of Down syndrome education methods depends on the teacher’s understanding of the lesson plan, the teacher’s ability to segment each goal into simple sub-goals, and reliance primarily on the strengths of Down syndrome students. It also indicated that teachers must consider the characteristics of students with Down syndrome, and choose the methods that are appropriate with their characteristics and their abilities, and necessity The teacher’s application of various methods in evaluating students in proportion to the individual differences between them, and the selection of methods that fit these characteristics and abilities that they achieve the best possible learning, and in a way that achieves psychological and social compatibility, and provide them with life skills that facilitates’ engaging in working life, independence and self-reliance.

Forming mathematical skills for gifted students

Teaching tasks and discussion solving process develop students' thinking when they are: motivating, well understood, appropriate to the achieved level of intellectually and related to real life problems. Thinking is a process of complex information processing, the end-result is "concepts-words" and "thinking-sentences." The teaching process involves empirical and theoretical thinking because it is a complete cognitive process through which students acquire the social and historical experience of humanity. Introducing the use of scientific methods for gifted students is an essential tool for attaining structural knowledge. Use of scientific methods and mental math can empower students’ knowledge and help them getting structural math skills and long-lasting knowledge. These methods are useful tools for creating long-lasting, structural knowledge among students. Keywords: Mathematical Skills, forming mathematical skills, mathematical tasks, gifted students