Aim: This study investigates the impact of an enhanced physical education (PE) program on attentional functions in middle school students. The aim is to evaluate whether increasing physical education hours, emphasizing cognitive tasks and team-based activities, could positively influence students' executive functions. Methods: The study involved…

To ensure adequate writing support for children, a profound understanding of the subskills of text quality is essential. Writing theories have already helped to better understand the contribution of different subskills to text quality, but empirical work is often limited to more general low-level transcription skills like handwriting fluency and…

Supporting students in becoming effective problem solvers is a critical component of K-12 mathematics instruction. Unfortunately, little is known about the factors that are related to problem solving proficiency in middle school students. We report the results of a study that employed a hierarchical linear regression analysis to examine the…

This study identified online research and comprehension (ORC) performance profiles of 436 sixth-grade students (206 girls) aged 12-13 years. We included learner groups with different learning-related difficulties and explored how students' reading habits were represented in various performance profiles. First, students' ORC performance was…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) characteristically experience academic difficulties. There is growing evidence that the continuum from academic competence to underachievement is partially explained by executive function (EF; neurocognitive attention-regulation processes) and stress. Yet, there is scarce research…

The present study tests two predictions stemming from the hypothesis that a source of difficulty with rational numbers is interference from whole number magnitude knowledge. First, inhibitory control should be an independent predictor of fraction understanding, even after controlling for working memory. Second, if the source of interference is…

Despite decades of research, the creative process remains to be fully understood, and most theories and empirical evidence focus on adults' creativity. Without understanding children's creative processes, the generalizability of these theories is questionable, which is crucial for teaching, learning, and parenting. However, studying children's…

This longitudinal study assessed the relative importance of second language exposure, motivational and attitudinal factors, and executive functions in predicting receptive vocabulary acquisition in children and adolescents after controlling for background characteristics (socio-economic status, non-verbal intelligence) and prior knowledge. The…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) characteristically experience academic difficulties. There is growing evidence that the continuum from academic competence to underachievement is partially explained by executive function (EF; neurocognitive attention-regulation processes) and stress. Yet, there is scarce research…

As procedural flexibility, previously understood as adaptive reasoning, emerges as an important consideration in math skill development, it is important to account for executive functioning in that process as well, as executive functioning a well-researched factor in math performance. The current study, a secondary data analysis, explores how…

Theoretical perspectives within disciplinary fields are often characterized by initially dichotomous frameworks that become more integrative over time. Indeed, popular discourse on the Science of Reading emphasizes dichotomous contributions of word reading and language comprehension to reading. Yet, these skill sets are inherently complex,…

The shift to online learning management systems such as Canvas seemed to assume students would become more independent and self-regulated, yet little research has been conducted in this area, especially with school-age students. This study examined the ways middle school students engaged with an online learning management system (LMS) and their…

This study examined relations between intentional self-regulation (ISR) and executive functions (EFs) among 84 Icelandic youth in Grade 6 (mean age 11.7 years; 51% girls) and their contributions to healthy and problematic outcomes a year later. ISR was indicated by the Selection, Optimization and Compensation model (SOC) and Self-Regulated…

Writing is a complex task that requires the activation and coordination of several processes. In addition to the research on the domain-specific factors that contribute to school achievement, there is an increasing interest on general variables, such as mindfulness. Here, we aimed to test the contribution of middle-grade students' trait…

A growing number of autistic students enter the school system, many with the capabilities of doing grade-level work. For these students, there seems to be a lack of focus on executive functioning, self-regulation, daily living skills (DLS), and self-determination. The Independence Curriculum (IC) is a set of units addressing identified areas of…