Numeracy and COVID-19: Examining interrelationships between numeracy, health numeracy and behaviour

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people across the globe have been exposed to large amounts of statistical data. Previous studies have shown that individuals mathematical understanding of health-related information affects their attitudes and behaviours. Here, we investigate the relation between (i) basic numeracy, (ii) COVID-19 health numeracy, and (iii) COVID-19 health-related attitudes and behaviours. An online survey measuring these three variables was distributed in Canada, the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) (n = 2032). In line with predictions, basic numeracy was positively related to COVID-19 health numeracy. However, predictions, neither basic numeracy nor COVID-19 health numeracy was related to COVID-19 healthrelated attitudes and behaviours (e.g. follow experts recommendations on social distancing, wearing masks etc.). Multi-group analysis was used to investigate mean differences and differences in the strength of the correlation across countries. Results indicate there were no between-country differences in the correlations between the main constructs but there were between-country differences in latent means. Overall, results suggest that while basic numeracy is related to one s understanding of data about COVID-19, better numeracy alone is not enough to influence a population s health-related attitudes about disease severity and to increase the likelihood of following public health advice

The benefits of math activities depend on the skills children bring to the table

Playing board games and other math activities can provide young children with opportunities to develop their math skills. However, it is critical to understand for whom these activities may be most beneficial. In two studies we examine the extent to which foundational cognitive skills moderate the effects of playing math games on math skills. In Study 1, we look cross-sectionally at the association between parents’ frequency of math activities with their three- to four-year-old children (N=124) and children’s math achievement, examining the extent to which children’s skills moderate this relation. We find that frequent math activities are only associated with better math performance for children with better number knowledge. In Study 2, we test this experimentally by randomly assigning parents and children (N=76) to play with a number-related board game, an active control board game, or a business-as-usual control group. Controlling for number knowledge, inhibitory control, and vocabulary at pre-test, no differences in math skills at post-test were observed between the training groups. However, a significant interaction emerged between training group assignment and number knowledge, such that children with higher pre-test number knowledge had higher post-test math scores when assigned to the number board game condition compared to the two control conditions, but no differences among conditions were seen for children with lower number knowledge. Collectively, these findings suggest that math activities may be most beneficial for math skills when children have stronger number knowledge and underscore the need for tailoring activities to children’s current skill level

The role of language in executive function development: Evidence from oral deaf preschoolers

Executive function (EF) and language are correlated in the preschool years, but the causal role that language plays in EF development remains unclear. The present study sheds light on this topic by comparing EF development among children who are typically hearing (TH) and deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH). Oral DHH children’s access to spoken language is delayed until they receive a cochlear implant or other device, providing a sort of natural experiment on how language impacts cognitive development. We expected that, if language does contribute to EF development, then (1) TH children should outperform DHH children on the EF task, and that (2) length of language access should account for this difference in performance. Preschoolers (n = 108, 38 oral DHH and 70 TH children, 3.0-6.5 years) completed a nonverbal rule-switching task measuring inhibitory control. Confirming our first hypothesis, a linear regression revealed that oral DHH children performed significantly worse on this task. We also directly confirmed that delayed language access accounted for these EF delays; we obtained data on the age at which each oral DHH child first received an auditory device (range 1.5-48 months), allowing us to compute length of language access. Mediation models revealed that length of language access fully mediated the link between hearing status (DHH/hearing) and EF, confirming our second hypothesis. Implications for theories of EF development are discussed, along with implications for DHH children, whose cognitive development is constrained by their access to language rather than their intrinsic abilities

The role of executive function in shaping the longitudinal stability of math achievement during early elementary grades

There is substantial rank-order stability in children’s mathematical skills throughout development. Research has shown that children who enter school with relatively low math skills are unlikely to catch up to peers who begin kindergarten with more developed math skills. Emerging evidence suggests that children’s executive function skills might play an important role in shaping the rate and stability of mathematical skill development during early development. Therefore in the present study, we used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort 2010-11—a prospective sample of over 18,000 children in the United States—to examine executive function as an antecedent to characteristics of growth in math skills and to test whether executive function moderates the longitudinal stability of math achievement from kindergarten through second grade. Latent growth curve models reveal that executive function is related to not only the level of math skills at school entry but also to the rate of growth in early elementary years. Moreover, we found that executive function moderated the stability of math achievement from kindergarten to second grade, suggesting that early executive function skills can serve as a compensatory mechanism for children who enter school with lower levels of mathematical skills. These findings might have important implications for narrowing gaps in math achievement during early elementary school

Mothers’ and fathers’ executive function both predict emergent executive function in toddlerhood

There are multivariate influences on the development of children’s executive function throughout the lifespan and substantial individual differences can be seen as early as when children are one and two years of age. These individual differences are moderately stable throughout early childhood, but more research is needed to better understand their origins. To some degree, individual differences in executive function are correlated between mother and child, but no research to date has examined these associations prior to when children are preschool age, nor have any studies considered the role of fathers’ and mothers’ executive function in tandem. Here, we use a sample of 484 families (Mothers 89.2% white; Fathers 92.5% white) in three countries (UK, USA, Netherlands) to investigate the role of each parents’ executive function on the development of children’s (49.7% female) executive function from 14 (M=14.42, SD=.57) to 24 (M=24.47, SD=.78) months, as well as parenting practices that underlie these associations. Results of structural equation models suggest stability in some—but not all—components of executive function and growing unity between components as children age. We replicate extant findings such that mothers’ executive function predicts children’s executive function over and above stability and extend these findings to include associations between father and child skills. We find an additive role of fathers’ EF, similar in magnitude to the role of mothers’ EF. Finally, for both mothers and fathers we find that sensitivity and autonomy supportive practices mediate the relations between parents’ and children’s executive function

Changing the conversation: A culturally sensitive perspective on discussing executive functions for minoritized children and their families

Executive functions remain one of the most investigated variables in both cognitive science and in education given its high correlation with numerous academic outcomes. Differences in executive function skills between children from higher socioeconomic and lower socioeconomic homes, as well as children from different racial/ethnic backgrounds, are often attributed to the quality of their environment and family resources. The goal of this essay is to highlight commonly held beliefs about executive functions in the field and provide alternative explanations for existing research findings for minoritized children and their families. We provide a summary of the literature on executive functions, how it’s often measured, how it develops, and how we might view research findings differently with greater knowledge of the groups we are studying

The multifactorial nature of early numeracy and its stability

Early numeracy is a robust predictor of later mathematical abilities. So far, early numeracy has typically been presented as a unitary or two-factorial construct. Nevertheless, there is recent evidence suggesting that it may also be reflected by more basic numerical competences. However, the structure and stability of such a multifactorial model of early numeracy over time has not been investigated yet. In the present study, we used data from a large, longitudinal sample (N = 1292) in the United States with assessments of math ability in prekindergarten and kindergarten to evaluate both the factorial structure of early numeracy and its stability over time. Confirmatory factor analysis identified four distinct basic numerical competences making up early numeracy in prekindergarten: patterning/geometry, number sense, arithmetic, and data analysis/statistics. Stability as tested by means of measurement invariance indicated configural invariance of these four factors from prekindergarten to kindergarten. This reflected that early numeracy in kindergarten was made up by the same four basic numerical competences as in prekindergarten and thus seemed rather stable over the course of preschool. These findings may not only have implications for research on numerical cognition but particularly for diagnostic processes or the development of interventions in educational practice