Martha Carr - US grants

ABSTRACT This research will explore the interacting roles of social, attributional, and metacognitive contributors to first-grade children's preferences for math strategies. Children are hypothesized to accumulate a set of preferred math strategies based on perceived social acceptability of the strategies, their attributions about the role of effort in learning, and metacognitive knowledge. Children who believe that effort in learning increases ability, as opposed to children who believe that ability is stable, are believed to develop more metacognitive knowledge about strategies and to use strategies that result in good performance. Children who believe ability to be stable and indicative of intelligence are expected to be more influenced in their use of math strategies by teachers', parents', and peers' attitudes toward strategies. The development of strategies and mathematical performance across a single school year will be examined as a function of perceived social attitudes toward strategies, strategy training in the school and home, attributional beliefs, and metacognitive factors. Of special interest will be the shift from external strategies (e.g., fingers) to internal strategies (e.g., mental calculation) since much of children's early strategy use is external and therefore open to the effects of social comment on the desirability of such strategies.

This project over a year period, will examine gender differences in the ways strategy use, speed of retrieval, spatial skills, confidence in mathematics, and conceptual understanding predict mathematics achievement. The longitudinal study beginning in the second grade and ending in the fourth grade, will document whether gender difference found in early strategy use, spatial skills and confidence continue through three years of elementary school and whether they promote each other's development and mathematics achievement. The elementary school years have been selected for study because although gender differences in strategy use, spatial skills, and confidence have been documented in elementary school age children, it is not clear how these differences may impact mathematics achievement. If mathematics achievement and conceptual understanding are affected by these early emerging gender differences that would suggest a need to intervene in girls' mathematics in the early elementary school years as opposed to waiting until the middle school and high school years when gender differences become more pronounced.This project over a year period, will examine gender differences in the ways strategy use, speed of retrieval, spatial skills, confidence in mathematics, and conceptual understanding predict mathematics achievement. The longitudinal study beginning in the second grade and ending in the fourth grade, will document whether gender difference found in early strategy use, spatial skills and confidence continue through three years of elementary school and whether they promote each other's development and mathematics achievement. The elementary school years have been selected for study because although gender differences in strategy use, spatial skills, and confidence have been documented in elementary school age children, it is not clear how these differences may impact mathematics achievement. If mathematics achievement and conceptual understanding are affected by these early emerging gender differences that would suggest a need to intervene in girls' mathematics in the early elementary school years as opposed to waiting until the middle school and high school years when gender differences become more pronounced.

The University of Georgia teaming with the University of Massachusetts Amherst is examining the prediction that a computer program designed to enhance strategy use and computational fluency will improve mathematics performance. The research also tests the prediction that working with the program will reduce or eliminate previously found gender differences in strategy use and computational fluency.

The overall objective of the proposed research is to improve the mathematical competency of young children and to reduce or eliminate factors that contribute to gender differences in mathematics performance in early elementary school age children. Earlier research has shown a correlation between cognitive strategy use, computational fluency and mathematics performance and found gender differences in these characteristics. There is evidence that early developing gender differences result in later gender differences in math test performance.

The proposed research will involve an experiment where students located in Georgia and Massachusetts will be randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions.

The intellectual merit of the project is its contribution to our knowledge of two factors that are believed to affect mathematics achievement and to affect gender differences in mathematics achievement. The study will determine whether instruction focused on these variables improves mathematics achievement, particularly for girls who tend to have lower test scores, lower fluency and less cognitive strategy use.

The broader impact of the proposed project will be to provide evidence that early intervention can ameliorate early emerging gender differences in math learning. These changes in instruction may have long-term consequences. They might improve the ability of students to perform at higher levels of mathematics in early adulthood and increase their interest in advanced study of science and mathematics.