Application of gamified virtual laboratories as a preparation tool for civil engineering students

Practical laboratory sessions are essential for engineering education, demanding efficient use of limited time. In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have introduced Virtual Laboratories (VLs), offering the potential to enhance students’ educational experience. Despite their potential, VLs are rarely utilised in civil engineering education. This research investigates the effectiveness of a gamified VL designed to simulate a concrete laboratory, aimed at better preparing students for experiments. A quasi-experimental study divided 92 students into control and experimental groups using cluster sampling. The control group received traditional lab training, while the experimental group engaged with the VL training environment. The results demonstrate that students using the VL spent significantly less time in the physical lab, exhibited improved competence in navigating lab setups, posed fewer questions about experimental procedures, and required less assistance from lab assistants. Notably, VL users spent 16% less time in the physical lab and needed fewer interventions from lab assistants. This study highlights the potential of VLs as potent tools for preparing engineering students for traditional lab sessions. Post-experiment surveys revealed a strong willingness among students in the experimental group to use VLs in future similar lab sessions, emphasising the positive impact of integrating VLs into engineering education.</p

Cognitive predictors of children’s development in mathematics achievement: a latent growth modeling approach

Research has identified various domain-general and domain-specific cognitive abilities as predictors of children’s individual differences in mathematics achievement. However, research into the predictors of children’s individual growth rates, i.e., between-person differences in within-person change, in mathematics achievement is scarce. We assessed 334 children’s domain-general and mathematics-specific early cognitive abilities and their general mathematics achievement longitudinally across four time-points within the 1st and 2nd grade of primary school. As expected, a constellation of multiple cognitive abilities contributed to the children’s starting level of mathematical success. Specifically, latent growth modeling revealed that WM abilities, IQ, counting skills, nonsymbolic and symbolic approximate arithmetic and comparison skills explained individual differences in the children’s initial status on a curriculum-based general mathematics achievement test. Surprisingly, however, only one out of all the assessed cognitive abilities was a unique predictor of the children’s individual growth rates in mathematics achievement: their performance in the symbolic approximate addition task. In this task, children were asked to estimate the sum of two large numbers and decide if this estimated sum was smaller or larger compared to a third number. Our findings demonstrate the importance of multiple domain-general and mathematics-specific cognitive skills for identifying children at risk of struggling with mathematics and highlight the significance of early approximate arithmetic skills for the development of one’s mathematical success. We argue the need for more research focus on explaining children’s individual growth rates in mathematics achievement

Low performance on mathematical tasks in preschoolers : the importance of domain-general and domain-specific abilities

Background: Different domain‐specific and domain‐general cognitive precursors play a key role in the development of mathematical abilities. The contribution of these domains to mathematical ability changes during development. Primary school‐aged children who show mathematical difficulties form a heterogeneous group, but it is not clear whether this also holds for preschool low achievers (LAs) and how domain‐specific and domain‐general abilities contribute to mathematical difficulties at a young age. The aim of this study was to explore the cognitive characteristics of a sample of preschool LAs and identify sub‐types of LAs. Methods: 81 children were identified as LAs from 283 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years old and were assessed on a number of domain‐general and domain‐specific tasks. Results: Cluster analysis revealed four subgroups of LAs in mathematics: (1) a weak processing sub‐type; (2) a general mathematical LAs sub‐type; (3) a mixed abilities sub‐type; and (4) a visuo‐spatial deficit sub‐type. Whilst two of the groups showed specific domain‐general difficulties, none showed only domain‐specific difficulties. Conclusions: Current findings suggest that preschool LAs constitute a heterogeneous group and stress the importance of domain‐general factors for the development of mathematical abilities during the preschool years

Memory Updating and Mental Arithmetic

Is domain-general memory updating ability predictive of calculation skills or are such skills better predicted by the capacity for updating specifically numerical information? Here, we used multidigit mental multiplication (MMM) as a measure for calculating skill as this operation requires the accurate maintenance and updating of information in addition to skills needed for arithmetic more generally. In Experiment 1, we found that only individual differences with regard to a task updating numerical information following addition (MUcalc) could predict the performance of MMM, perhaps owing to common elements between the task and MMM. In Experiment 2, new updating tasks were designed to clarify this: a spatial updating task with no numbers, a numerical task with no calculation, and a word task. The results showed that both MUcalc and the spatial task were able to predict the performance of MMM but only with the more difficult problems, while other updating tasks did not predict performance. It is concluded that relevant processes involved in updating the contents of working memory support mental arithmetic in adults

When is working memory important for arithmetic?: the impact of strategy and age

Our ability to perform arithmetic relies heavily on working memory, the manipulation and maintenance of information in mind. Previous research has found that in adults, procedural strategies, particularly counting, rely on working memory to a greater extent than retrieval strategies. During childhood there are changes in the types of strategies employed, as well as an increase in the accuracy and efficiency of strategy execution. As such it seems likely that the role of working memory in arithmetic may also change, however children and adults have never been directly compared. This study used traditional dual-task methodology, with the addition of a control load condition, to investigate the extent to which working memory requirements for different arithmetic strategies change with age between 9-11 years, 12-14 years and young adulthood. We showed that both children and adults employ working memory when solving arithmetic problems, no matter what strategy they choose. This study highlights the importance of considering working memory in understanding the difficulties that some children and adults have with mathematics, as well as the need to include working memory in theoretical models of mathematical cognition

The interplay between affective and cognitive factors in shaping early proficiency in mathematics

Performing math tasks is a complex process that requires the recruitment of many cognitive and affective factors. Research on the interplay between cognitive and affective factors associated with math ability is surprisingly scarce in primary school children. In the present study, we examined the contribution of both general and mathspecific anxiety to math performance in a large sample of second-grade schoolchildren, and also their relation with different measures of both domain-general (i.e., spatial and verbal working memory, intelligence) and domain-specific cognitive correlates of math ability (i.e., different skills tapping the approximate number system, ANS). Results revealed a negative relation between general anxiety (but not math anxiety) and math performance, beyond the contribution of the cognitive abilities. Importantly, specific components of both verbal working memory (i.e., digit span) and ANS (i.e., approximate addition) mediated the relation between general anxiety and math performance. The educational implications of these findings are discussed

Making sense of numbers : early mathematics achievement and working memory in primary school children

This dissertation aimed to investigate symbolic and non-symbolic number sense in relation to each other, to working memory, and to mathematics performance through the testing of (longitudinal) associations and training effects. These aims were achieved through a series of eight studies, with four different methodologies: meta-analyses aggregated previously reported associations between constructs and explored sources of variation. Short studies indexed the factor structure of number sense and the predictive role of working memory for number sense. Longitudinal studies were used to model development of number sense and mathematics performance, and explore the dynamic pattern of reciprocal associations. Training studies, finally, were used to investigate which assets of number sense and working memory could be trained, and how this impacted related constructs. The dissertation allows three main conclusions to be drawn. First, working memory capacity can be used to predict both number sense and formal mathematical skill, as evident from the reported meta-analyses, but the contribution of various working memory components differs depending on the domain of numerical skills assessed, the way in which working memory is assessed, and various other methodological decisions. Second, number sense can be divided into symbolic number sense (working with verbal and written number symbols) and non-symbolic number sense (working with quantities such as dots and line lengths), both of which are predictive of skill growth in number sense at a later age. Both factors can be predicted using concurrent working memory measures, but not by the same sets of working memory components. Symbolic and non-symbolic number sense are affected by training activities in discordant ways: symbolic number sense can be trained effectively in kindergarten, but there is only limited support for the notion that non-symbolic number sense van be trained in a similar way. Third, number sense is a consistent predictor of mathematical skill, but this relation is bidirectional: although number sense measures at one point in time can predict mathematics performance at a later point in time, mathematics performance can also predict number sense longitudinally. This indicated that insights associated with mathematics performance can be used to fine-tune a child’s understanding of number. Recommendations for future research include in increased focus on the dynamic relations between number sense, mathematics achievement, and working memory, more specific scrutiny of the roles of non-symbolic and symbolic number sense as latent constructs, and investigation of the relative merits of training specific assets of number sense, rather than the overarching skill. In sum, this dissertation contributes in an important way to current understandings of children’s number sense, its relations to mathematics and working memory, and the possibilities to facilitate these skills at an early age

Counting and number line trainings in kindergarten: Effects on arithmetic performance and number sense

Contains fulltext : 192025.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Children's early numerical capacities form the building blocks for later arithmetic proficiency. Linear number placements and counting skills are indicative of mapping, as an important precursor to arithmetic skills, and have been suggested to be of vital importance to arithmetic development. The current study investigated whether fostering mapping skills is more efficient through a counting or a number line training programme. Effects of both programmes were compared through a quasi-experimental design, and moderation effects of age and SES were investigated. Ninety kindergartners were divided into three conditions: a counting, a number line, and a control condition. Pretests and posttests included an arithmetic (addition) task and a battery of number sense tasks (comparison, number lines and counting). Results showed significantly greater gains in arithmetic, counting, and symbolic number lines in the counting training group than in the control group. The number line training group did not make significantly greater gains than the control group. Training gains were moderated by age, but not SES. We concluded that counting training improved numerical capacities effectively, whereas no such improvements could be found for the number line training. This suggests that only a counting approach is effective for fostering number sense and early arithmetic skills in kindergarten. Future research should elaborate on the parameters of training programmes and the consequences of variation in these parameters.11 p