The study identified the cognitive mechanisms that underly individual differences in mathematics and reading. There is little systematic evidence regarding the connections between cognitive capabilities, mathematics and reading among high-school students with typical development. Moreover, the study aimed to examine whether or not gender is…

Algebraic thinking and strategy flexibility are essential to advanced mathematical thinking. Early algebra instruction uses 'missing-operand' problems (e.g., x - 7 = 2) solvable via two typical strategies: (1) direct retrieval of arithmetic facts (e.g., 9 - 7 = 2) and (2) performance of the inverse operation (e.g., 2 + 7 = 9). The current study…

Despite progress toward gender equity, troubling disparities in mathematical problem-solving performance and related outcomes persist. To investigate why, we build on recurrent findings in previous studies to introduce a new construct, "bold problem solving," which involves approaching mathematics problems in inventive ways. We introduce…

This exploratory study shows that the contributions of cognitive, metacognitive awareness, performance avoidance, test anxiety, and socioeconomic family background factors to SAT scores (i.e., overall SAT, SAT-V, SAT-M) may vary as a function of ethnicity (i.e., European-American, Hispanic). Four hundred and fifty-seven students, 282…

In order to achieve the present study's goal--to understand better the phenomenon of mathematical giftedness--we performed a multidimensional examination of the mental processing in students who exhibited mathematical expertise (EM) at the secondary school level. The study included participants from the three groups: students who excelled in…

Relational reasoning is the foundational cognitive ability to discern meaningful patterns within an informational stream, but its reliable and valid measurement remains problematic. In this investigation, the measurement of relational reasoning unfolded in three stages. Stage 1 entailed the establishment of a research-based conceptualization of…

Little empirical data are available concerning the cognitive abilities of gifted individuals in general and especially those who excel in mathematics. We examined visual processing abilities distinguishing between general giftedness (G) and excellence in mathematics (EM). The research population consisted of 190 students from four groups of 10th-…

Knowing what skills underlie college success can allow students, teachers, and universities to identify and to help at-risk students. One skill that may underlie success across a variety of subject areas is structure building, the ability to create mental representations of narratives (Gernsbacher, Varner, & Faust, 1990). We tested if…

The response-signal speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) procedure was used to investigate the relationship between measures of working memory capacity and the time course of short-term item recognition. High- and low-span participants studied sequentially presented 6-item lists, immediately followed by a recognition probe. Analyses of composite list…

Person and situational determinants of cognitive ability test performance and subjective reactions were examined in the context of tests with different time-on-task requirements. Two hundred thirty-nine first-year university students participated in a within-participant experiment, with completely counterbalanced treatment conditions and test…

African American women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields (Catsambis, 1994). The socialization and "under-education" of African American female students engenders ideas of inferiority, while the presence of an inferior race, sex and class, in one body, may produce an ideology of mediocrity.…

The objective of the present investigation was to compare the adequacy of two cognitive models for predicting examinee performance on a sample of algebra I and II items from the March 2005 administration of the SAT[TM]. The two models included one generated from verbal reports provided by 21 examinees as they solved the SAT[TM] items, and the…

The purpose of the study is to present research focused on validating the four algebra cognitive models in Gierl, Wang, et al., using student response data collected with protocol analysis methods to evaluate the knowledge structures and processing skills used by a sample of SAT test takers.

A total of 108 eleventh and twelfth graders were given a strategy questionnaire and sample Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) math items in an attempt to explain gender differences on this test. Results showed that, although male students performed better on the SAT math items, prior knowledge and strategies explained nearly 50% of the variance. (MDM)

This study continued the research on analogy problem-solving on psychometric tests pursued by I. I. Bejar, R. Chaffin, and S. Embretson (1991). Characteristics of a semantic taxonomy and a cognitively and empirically motivated intensional/pragmatic (I/P) dichotomy were explored. There were two research questions: (1) Could the results of Bejar et…