More research is needed to understand the effects of school-based mindfulness programs in the years before adolescence, which represent a critical juncture and transitional period of development. The present study investigated mindfulness with elementary school students using random assignment and objective measures. The sample included 292 5th…

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have examined the association between mathematical abilities and executive functions (EFs). However, it remains unknown via which mechanisms' mathematical performance is associated with EFs. The current study examined the associations of overall task proficiency, strategy selection, and strategy…

Social problem-solving (SPS) skills represent an individual's ability to effectively solve daily problems. Although previous studies have demonstrated the positive effects of SPS interventions, there is still a lack of evidence on the relevant moderating factors. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of an SPS intervention on a sample of…

Phonemic awareness (PA) refers to the ability to reflect on and manipulate phonemes. The development of the ability to become aware of and conduct mental operations on phonemes might involve higher-order cognitive processes, such as executive functions (EFs), which help modulate attention to goal-relevant information and support behavioral…

Active breaks (AB) are short periods of physical activity in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of 5-minute dance break with an aerobic and a sedentary group on the executive functions, math performance and enjoyment of elementary school children. A total of 67 children (10.41±.13 years) of three fifth grade…

Purpose: We examined the extent to which achievement goals predict reading comprehension, measured by two response formats (free recall and constructed response), and how these relations differ for students with and without reading difficulties (RD). We further explored how executive functions (working memory and semantic verbal fluency) mediate…

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (2010-2011), this study is the first to investigate predictors of kindergarten science achievement and growth across elementary school--English language proficiency (ELP), executive functioning, math and reading achievement, parent-engaged science and math activities, and classroom…

We examine the association between parenting practices (discipline and support) and children's cognitive effort. Cognitive effort is hard to measure; hence, little is known about effort dispositions, and how parenting practices affect effort. We analyse data from 1,148 fifth-grade students from Berlin and Madrid (around 11 years of age). Cognitive…

Socio-emotional school behavior and learning are both fundamental aspects of children's development influenced by cognitive control processes named Executive Functions (EF). Yet, research on school-age children has often focused on the relationship between EF and learning skills overlooking that of EF and school behavior, which has usually been…

Background: Cognitive and linguistic factors have been incorporated into models to explain reading comprehension beyond classical models of reading. This study explores the contribution of executive functions, mainly domain-general and reading-specific cognitive flexibility, in reading comprehension of science texts in monolingual Spanish speaking…

The problem was the decline in executive functioning skills of Grade 5 students in a consolidated independent school district in suburban Austin, Texas since the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this qualitative critical instance case study was to better understand the perceptions of teachers regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the executive…

This study examined the effects of cognitively challenging physical activity games on students' executive functions and situational interest in physical education. Participants were 144 fourth- and fifth-grade students (75 boys, 69 girls) from four elementary schools. A four-group, repeated measures, cross-over quasi-experimental design was used…

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…

Purpose: We examined the extent to which achievement goals predict reading comprehension, measured by two response formats (free recall and constructed response), and how these relations differ for students with and without reading difficulties (RD). We further explored how executive functions (working memory and semantic verbal fluency) mediate…

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…