The Home Math Environment and Children's Math Achievement: A Meta-Analysis

Mathematical thinking is in high demand in the global market, but approximately six percent of school-age children across the globe experience math difficulties (Shalev, et al., 2000). The home math environment (HME), which includes all math-related activities, attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and utterances in the home, may be associated with children’s math development. In order to examine the relation between the HME and children’s math abilities, a preregistered meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the average weighted correlation coefficient (r) between the HME and children’s math achievement and how potential moderators (i.e., assessment, study, and sample features) might contribute to study heterogeneity. A multilevel correlated effects model using 631 effect sizes from 64 quantitative studies comprised of 68 independent samples found a positive, statistically significant average weighted correlation of r = .13 (SE = .02, p < .001). Our combined sensitivity analyses showed that the present findings were robust, and that the sample of studies has evidential value. A number of assessment, study, and sample characteristics contributed to study heterogeneity, showing that no single feature of HME research was driving the large between-study differences found for the association between the HME and children’s math achievement. These findings indicate that children’s environments and interactions related to their learning are supported in the specific context of math learning. Our results also show that the HME represents a setting in which children learn about math through social interactions with their caregivers (Vygotsky, 1978), and what they learn depends on the influence of many levels of environmental input (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and the specificity of input children receive (Bornstein, 2002). Public Significance Statement: The findings of this meta-analysis suggest that children’s home math environments (e.g., parent-child math interactions) are positively associated with children’s math achievement. To promote children’s math skills, it may be beneficial to support parents in providing positive home math experiences for their children

HDAC3 Regulates the Transition to the Homeostatic Myelinating Schwann Cell State

Summary: The formation of myelinating Schwann cells (mSCs) involves the remarkable biogenic process, which rapidly generates the myelin sheath. Once formed, the mSC transitions to a stable homeostatic state, with loss of this stability associated with neuropathies. The histone deacetylases histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and HDAC2 are required for the myelination transcriptional program. Here, we show a distinct role for HDAC3, in that, while dispensable for the formation of mSCs, it is essential for the stability of the myelin sheath once formed—with loss resulting in progressive severe neuropathy in adulthood. This is associated with the prior failure to downregulate the biogenic program upon entering the homeostatic state leading to hypertrophy and hypermyelination of the mSCs, progressing to the development of severe myelination defects. Our results highlight distinct roles of HDAC1/2 and HDAC3 in controlling the differentiation and homeostatic states of a cell with broad implications for the understanding of this important cell-state transition. : The entry of differentiating cells into a homeostatic state is poorly understood. Here, Rosenberg et al. show that a switch between HDAC1/2 and HDAC3 is responsible for the entry of myelinating Schwann cells into homeostasis with HDAC3−/− Schwann cells myelinating normally but “overshooting,” resulting in severe neuropathies in adult mice. Keywords: homeostasis, HDACs, Schwann cells, peripheral nerve, neuropathy, biogenesi

The Bristol CMIP6 Data Hackathon

The Bristol CMIP6 Data Hackathon formed part of the Met Office Climate Data Challenge Hackathon series during 2021, bringing together around 100 UK early career researchers from a wide range of environmental disciplines. The purpose was to interrogate the under-utilised but currently most advanced climate model inter-comparison project datasets to develop new research ideas, create new networks and outreach opportunities in the lead up to COP26. Experts in different science fields, supported by a core team of scientists and data specialists at Bristol, had the unique opportunity to explore together interdisciplinary environmental topics summarised in this article

PIXL: Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry

Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the robotic arm of NASA’s Perseverance rover. PIXL will acquire high spatial resolution observations of rock and soil chemistry, rapidly analyzing the elemental chemistry of a target surface. In 10 seconds, PIXL can use its powerful 120 μm-diameter X-ray beam to analyze a single, sand-sized grain with enough sensitivity to detect major and minor rock-forming elements, as well as many trace elements. Over a period of several hours, PIXL can autonomously raster-scan an area of the rock surface and acquire a hyperspectral map comprised of several thousand individual measured points. When correlated to a visual image acquired by PIXL’s camera, these maps reveal the distribution and abundance variations of chemical elements making up the rock, tied accurately to the physical texture and structure of the rock, at a scale comparable to a 10X magnifying geological hand lens. The many thousands of spectra in these postage stamp-sized elemental maps may be analyzed individually or summed together to create a bulk rock analysis, or subsets of spectra may be summed, quantified, analyzed, and compared using PIXLISE data analysis software. This hand lens-scale view of the petrology and geochemistry of materials at the Perseverance landing site will provide a valuable link between the larger, centimeter- to meter-scale observations by Mastcam-Z, RIMFAX and Supercam, and the much smaller (micron-scale) measurements that would be made on returned samples in terrestrial laboratories