Early numerical skills are important not only for later mathematical achievement but for overall achievement and are associated with later income, health, and quality of life. Socioeconomic disparities in numerical skills are visible before children begin school, and widen throughout schooling. It is, therefore, important to support the…

Procedural flexibility is an important skill for algebra. Although prior work has focused on measuring students' procedural flexibility using arithmetic problems, word problems may also capture students' flexibility because of their open-ended nature. To date, no published study has examined the use of word problems as another measure of…

It is well known that fraction knowledge is relevant for later success in mathematics. However, many students still face difficulties when dealing with fractions. Predictors of fraction knowledge have been widely examined. Systematizing "mathematical" predictors, whether their predictive contributions are direct or indirectly mediated…

Mathematical skills significantly predict students' educational paths. Mathematical achievement varies depending on the student's socioeconomic status (SES). However, the extent of the SES gap for specific mathematical skills remains unclear. In this cross-sectional study, we examined age variations by SES in three mathematical skills, applied…

The home numeracy environment (HNE) is an essential factor to explain family engagement in relation to numeracy. Research in this field has mostly focused on English-speaking families and has not taken into consideration cultural differences that contextualize the home environment. Measuring HNE in more ethnically diverse samples might counter…

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a dialogic reading picture book intervention on preschoolers' repeating patterning ability. Ninety-four children age 4 years 1 month to 6 years 8 months (M[subscript age] = 5 years 0 months) were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 46) or active control (n = 48) conditions. Well-trained university and…

There are consistent correlations between mathematics achievement, attitudes, and anxiety, but the longitudinal relations among these constructs are not well understood nor are sex differences in these relations. To address this gap, mathematics achievement, attitudes, and anxiety were longitudinally assessed for 342 (169 boys) adolescents from…

We examined longitudinal relations between 1st-grade cognitive predictors (early nonverbal reasoning, processing speed, listening comprehension, working memory, calculation skill, word-problem solving, word-reading fluency, attentive behavior, and numerical cognition) and 2nd-grade academic outcomes (calculations, word-problem solving, and word…

The current study investigated the relation between spatial ability and children's math performance, as well as the potential mechanisms underlying this relation including numerical magnitude knowledge, understanding of arithmetic operations, and word-problem representation. A sample of 221 Asian sixth graders (age 11, 129 boys) completed a series…

This longitudinal cross-lagged panel study investigated the development of the structure of young children's spontaneous number focusing tendencies and their longitudinal associations with numerical abilities and mathematics achievement over the course of a 3-year period, that is, in the second and third year of kindergarten and in first grade of…

The early prediction of math difficulties (MD) is important as it facilitates timely support. MD are multifaceted, and several factors are involved in their manifestation. This makes the accurate early prediction of MD particularly challenging. In the present study, we aim to predict MD in Grade 6 with kindergarten-age (age 6) measures by applying…

Fraction arithmetic facility is fundamental to learning more advanced math topics. However, attaining the ability to add and subtract fractions is hard for many students. The present longitudinal study examined students' growth on simple addition and subtraction word problems between fourth and sixth grades (N = 536). Latent class growth analyses…

The goal of this study was to evaluate immediate and delayed effects of a caregiver-implemented picture book intervention to support children's mathematical language and numeracy skills. Eighty-four 3- to 5-year-olds (M[subscript age] = 4.14) were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 40) or active control (n = 44) conditions. Participants in the…

Texts presenting novel numerical data can shift learners' attitudes and conceptions about controversial science topics. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this conceptual change. The purpose of this study was to investigate two potential mechanisms that underlie learning from novel data: numerical estimation skills and…

We propose a model delineating the role of control, value, and cognitive disequilibrium in elementary students' experience of emotions during mathematics problem solving. We tested this model across 2 studies. In Study 1, using an explanatory mixed-methods design, 136 students from Grades 3 to 6 worked on a complex mathematics problem appropriate…