Understanding the contributions of working memory components over the primary school years to enable screening for future attainment in mathematics

Interest in, and evidence for, the involvement of working memory in mathematics is increasing as the performance of school leavers is under constant scrutiny. Understanding how components of working memory relate to aspects of mathematics is, however, limited. The stability of this relationship when other cognitive predictors are included is not known, nor is whether the relationship is stable over time. This thesis contains a systematic review of the literature and four studies investigating relationships between working memory and mathematics performance. As a first step, available literature on the relationship between visuospatial working memory and mathematics performance was reviewed in a systematic, thematic analysis of effect sizes. Results showed a significant influence on the effect size of standardised mathematics measures, but not the type of visuospatial working memory or mathematics being assessed. Crucially, the overall effect size was positive, demonstrating a positive association between visuospatial working memory and mathematics performance. The first study built on these findings to identify the relative contributions of verbal, spatial-simultaneous, and spatial-sequential working memory in written mathematics. Year 3 children (7-8 years of age, n=214) in the UK completed a battery of working memory tasks alongside a standardised mathematics test. Results showed the largest individual contribution was from verbal working memory, followed by spatial-simultaneous factors. This suggests the components of working memory underpinning mathematical performance at this age are verbal-numeric and spatial-simultaneous. The study raised the question of whether this relationship is consistent across the primary school years. The second study therefore examined the relative contributions of verbal and visuospatial simple and complex working memory to mathematics in primary school children. Children in Years 2 to 5 (6 to 10 years) were assessed (M age = 100.06 months, SD = 14.47, n=111). Results revealed an age-dependent relationship, with greater visuospatial influence in older children. Further analyses demonstrated that backward word span and backward matrices contributed unique portions of variance of mathematics, regardless of the regression model specified. A further feasibility study (n = 28) investigated whether the relationships identified were resilient to the inclusion of other cognitive measures and whether there were any underlying cognitive deficits common in poor performers in mathematics. The study explored measuring working memory, speed of processing, g (intelligence), and number sense simultaneously. None of the regression models generated were significant, with no suggestions of fundamental differences between children who performed poorly in mathematics and their peers. Further analysis revealed considerable heterogeneity in the cognitive profiles of children showing a cause for concern in mathematics. The study demonstrated the approach is potentially feasible if the chosen measures thoroughly explore the child’s cognitive profile. A final two-year follow-up to study 1 investigated how subcomponents of working memory measured in Year 3 related to mathematical performance in Year 5 (n = 159 M age = 115.48 months). Results show a shift from spatial-simultaneous to spatial-sequential influence, whilst verbal involvement remained relatively stable. Possible explanations for the findings in relation to the existing literature are explored along with implications for educators and further research. Consideration is also given to the value of remediation strategies for poor mathematical performance. The findings of the project as a whole indicate that there is a shift in the influence of the working memory components from spatial-simultaneous to spatial-sequential as children get older. The contributions of verbal working memory remain consistently important at all ages. These results suggest that a screener developed to predict future attainment should include measures of each of these areas in order to account for both shorter and longer term prediction

Preventing Postharvest Food Loss

In a partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Kansas State University will be home to three Feed the Future innovation labs, one of which aims to find ways to reduce food loss and preserve the natural resources used to produce food

Food Technologies Require Consumer Acceptance

Researchers study RNA interference in plants and animals to improve food efficiency while unlocking public perception

The Classroom Environment: The Silent Curriculum

This senior project focused on the physical environment of elementary school classrooms, with a particular emphasis on how environmental factors influence behavior and academic achievement. Such environmental factors included lighting, color, acoustics, temperature, seating arrangements, space and crowding, and living kinds such as plants and animals. Previous research has demonstrated a connection between student behavior and the classroom environment. Taylor and Vlastos (2009) developed a theory regarding the relationship between environment and design within the classroom. They referred to the physical environment of the classroom as the “silent curriculum” and hold strongly to the belief that understanding the physical environment is essential to the education of children. The goal of this project was to investigate empirical evidence on the importance of the physical environment and develop a website in order to share this information with teachers and administrators

A distinction between working memory components as unique predictors of mathematical components in 7–8 year old children

Despite evidence for the involvement of working memory in mathematics attainment, the understanding of its components relationship to individual areas of mathematics is somewhat restricted. This study aims to better understand this relationship. Two-hundred and fourteen year 3 children in the UK were administered tests of verbal and visuospatial working memory, followed by a standardised mathematics test. Confirmatory factor analyses and variance partitioning were then performed on the data to identify the unique variance accounted for by verbal and visuospatial working memory measures for each component of mathematics assessed. Results revealed contrasting patterns between components, with those typically visual components demonstrating a larger proportion of unique variance explained by visuospatial measures. This pattern reveals a level of specificity with regard to the component of working memory engaged depending on the component of mathematics being assessed. Implications for educators and further research are discussed

A Little Birdie Told Me About Agriculture: Best Practices and Future Uses of Twitter in Agriculutral Communications

Social media sites, such as Twitter, are impacting the ways businesses, organizations, and individuals use technology to connect with their audiences. Twitter enables users to connect with others through 140-character messages called “tweets” that answer the question, “What’s happening?” Twitter use has increased exponentially to more than five million active users but has a dropout rate of more than 50%. Numerous agricultural organizations have embraced the use of Twitter to promote their products and agriculture as a whole and to interact with audiences in a new way. This article addresses current Twitter use trends within agriculture and offers advice for practitioners

Area Postrema

This report contains a gene expression summary of the area postrema (AP), derived from the "Allen Brain Atlas":http://www.brain-map.org/welcome.do;jsessionid=EDE40ADC940845D169DE378ADC9B71BD (ABA) in-situ hybridization (ISH) mouse data set. The structure’s location and morphological characteristics in the mouse brain are described using the Nissl data found in the "Allen Reference Atlas":http://www.brain-map.org/mouse/atlas/coronal/legend.html. Using an established algorithm, the expression values of the AP were compared to the values of the macro/parent-structure, in this case the medulla, for the purpose of extracting regionally specific gene expression data. The highest ranking ratios were then manually curated and verified. The 50 Select Genes were compiled for expression characterization. The experimental data for each gene may be accessed via the links provided; complementary sagittal data may also be accessed using the "ABA":http://www.brain-map.org/welcome.do. Correlation between gene expression in the AP and the rest of the brain, across all genes in the coronal dataset (~4300 genes), were derived computationally and are presented below. A gene ontology table (derived from DAVID Bioinformatics Resources 2007) is also included, highlighting possible functions of these 50 Select Genes. 
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Simple Sprinkler Performance Testing for Salt Lake County

This fact sheet describes how to perform a site inspection and a sprinkler test so you can irrigate your landscape more efficiently, and provides an irrigation schedule for Salt Lake County