Manuel Deaño

Cognitive Processing and Mathematical Achievement A Study With Schoolchildren Between Fourth and Sixth Grade of Primary Education

This investigation analyzed the relation between cognitive functioning and mathematical achievement in 114 students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Differences in cognitive performance were studied concurrently in three selected achievement groups: mathematical learning disability group (MLD), low achieving group (LA), and typically achieving group (TA). For this purpose, performance in verbal memory and in the PASS cognitive processes of planning, attention, and simultaneous and successive processing was assessed at the end of the academic course. Correlational analyses showed that phonological loop and successive and simultaneous processing were related to mathematical achievement at all three grades. Regression analysis revealed simultaneous processing as a cognitive predictor of mathematical performance, although phonological loop was also associated with higher achievement. Simultaneous and successive processing were the elements that differentiated the MLD group from the LA group. These results show that, of all the variables analyzed in this study, simultaneous processing was the best predictor of mathematical performance.

Program of arithmetic improvement by means of cognitive enhancement: An intervention in children with special educational needs

This study reports the cognitive and arithmetic improvement of a mathematical model based on the program PASS Remedial Program (PREP), which aims to improve specific cognitive processes underlying academic skills such as arithmetic. For this purpose, a group of 20 students from the last four grades of Primary Education was divided into two groups. One group (n=10) received training in the program and the other served as control. Students were assessed at pre and post intervention in the PASS cognitive processes (planning, attention, simultaneous and successive processing), general level of intelligence, and arithmetic performance in calculus and solving problems. Performance of children from the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group in cognitive process and arithmetic. This joint enhancement of cognitive and arithmetic processes was a result of the operationalization of training that promotes the encoding task, attention and planning, and learning by induction, mediation and verbalization. The implications of this are discussed.

Prevención del riesgo de dificultad lectora en estudiantes de primer ciclo de Educación Primaria

Among the range of programmes in reading intervention, those of direct teaching of reading skills should be highlighted, along with those that are based on cognitive processes and mediated education. The latter two allow progress to be made in learning reading skills and to improve cognitive processes. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of a cognitive and mediated reading programme of intervention in the processes of a consecutive codification in a group of pupils from 2nd year of Primary School aged between 6.11 and 8.08 years (M = 7.07; SD = 0.26). 12 out of 29 participants formed the control group, and the other 17 formed the experimental one. A programme of reinforcement of reading skills was applied to members of the experimental group with low marks in consecutive processing and reading achievement. The methodology of the programme is designed so that the process of learning to read takes place spontaneously by internalizing principles and strategies. The results showed an outstanding progress in the scores in the consecutive processing of the experimental group. The initial differences in the consecutive codification observed in both groups disappeared due to the effectiveness of the programme.

Arithmetical Difficulties and Low Arithmetic Achievement: Analysis of the Underlying Cognitive Functioning.

This study analyzed the cognitive functioning underlying arithmetical difficulties and explored the predictors of arithmetic achievement in the last three grades of Spanish Primary Education. For this purpose, a group of 165 students was selected and divided into three groups of arithmetic competence: Mathematical Learning Disability group (MLD, n = 27), Low Achieving group (LA, n = 39), and Typical Achieving group (TA, n = 99). Students were assessed in domain-general abilities (working memory and PASS cognitive processes), and numerical competence (counting and number processing) during the last two months of the academic year. Performance of children from the MLD group was significantly poorer than that of the LA group in writing dictated Arabic numbers (d = -0.88), reading written verbal numbers (d = -0.84), transcoding written verbal numbers to Arabic numbers (-0.75) and comprehension of place value (d = -0.69), as well as in simultaneous (d = -0.62) and successive (d = -0.59) coding. In addition, a specific developmental sequence was observed in both groups, the implications of which are discussed. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed simultaneous coding (β = .47, t(155) = 6.18, p < .001) and number processing (β = .23, t(155) = 3.07, p < .01) as specific predictors of arithmetical performance.

Family context and preschool learning

The main goal of this investigation was to determine the influence of the family contextual variables on childrens basic learning skills. Basic abilities tests for childrens academic learning were administered to a sample of 447 children aged three, four, and five years in preschool education. The parents completed the questionnaire, which collected data about the structural variables of the family context: family structure, educational level, occupational activity, cultural resources available in the home, and monthly family income. Univariate analyses of variance were performed. The parents’ educational level and some of the variables of cultural resources, such as access to the Internet, influence the basic abilities of the participants. This study indicates that structural variables condition family resources of a dynamic nature, and these are significant variables for academic achievement.

Procesamiento cognitivo en estudiantes con y sin deficiencia auditiva

Resumen Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar el procesamiento cognitivo de los sujetos deficientes auditivos comparados con los oyentes, asi como el efecto del implante coclear en dicho procesamiento. Para ello se utilizo una muestra de 90 participantes de edades comprendidas entre los 5 y los 17 anos (media de edad 10,9 anos) distribuidos en cinco grupos: oyentes, deficientes auditivos ligero-moderados, severos, profundos portadores de audifono y profundos portadores de implante coclear. Los instrumentos de valoracion utilizados han sido la bateria Das.Naglieri: Cognitive Assesssment System (D.N:CAS) y el test de matrices progresivas de Raven. Los resultados se enmarcan en la teoria de planificacion, atencion, procesamiento simultaneo y procesamiento sucesivo (PASS). Las puntuaciones mas bajas en los procesos estudiados (planificacion, atencion, procesamiento simultaneo y procesamiento sucesivo) corresponden a los sujetos con deficiencia auditiva profunda portadores de audifono, en tanto que los profundos con implante coclear apenas se diferencian de los oyentes que son el grupo con puntuaciones mas elevadas. Los procesos afectados por el grado de audicion son la planificacion que diferencia a los sujetos oyentes de los no oyentes; el procesamiento sucesivo, afectado en los grupos con mayor perdida auditiva (severos y profundos); y la atencion que es un proceso especialmente afectado en el grupo de deficientes auditivos profundos con audifono. El procesamiento simultaneo no parece afectarse por el grado de perdida auditiva en condiciones normales de educacion.

Gender differences in first-year college students’ academic expectations

Based on a multidimensional definition of academic expectations (AEs), the authors examine students’ AE component scores across countries and genders. Two samples (343 Portuguese and 358 Spanish students) completed the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) six months after enrolling in their universities. Factorial invariance was ensured across countries and genders, allowing us to study AEs using the APQ for both genders and in both countries. No significant differences in factor means were found between countries, indicating that AEs are not an obstacle to student mobility. Gender differences were found in some AE factor means, Training for employment, Personal and social development, Student mobility, Political engagement and citizenship, and Social pressure, with males exhibiting higher scores. Because these differences are not supported by most literature in this domain, further studies are needed to clarify the causes of women’s lower expectations and, therefore, risk of adaptation difficulties.

Prevención e intervención de las dificultades de aprendizaje en lectura

Los programas de ensenanza estrategica y mediada de la lectura basados en procesos cognitivos permiten el dominio eficaz de esta habilidad especifica, asi como la mejora de los procesos cognitivos. Estudiantes de 2o, 5o y 6o curso de la etapa de Educacion Primaria, con y sin riesgo de dificultad lectora, participaron en la implementacion de este tipo de programas. A los estudiantes de 2o curso, en riesgo de dificultad lectora, se les aplico un programa de refuerzo en habilidades lectoras con una metodologia disenada para que el aprendizaje de la lectura tuviese lugar de manera espontanea a traves de la interiorizacion de principios y estrategias. Los estudiantes de 5o y 6o curso, sin riesgo de dificultad lectora, participaron de un programa de comprension lectora basado en la instruccion estrategica y metacognitiva de dicha habilidad. En 2o curso los resultados indicaron una mejora significativa del proceso cognitivo sucesivo, asociado al dominio de la conciencia fonologica. En 5o y 6o se obtuvieron mejoras significativas en compresion lectora y en el proceso cognitivo de planificacion, vinculado al uso de estrategias y a la supervision y regulacion del aprendizaje. Para los estudiantes de 2o curso, el uso de este tipo de programas de intervencion constituye la mejor prevencion de la dificultad de aprendizaje como evidencia en la mejora significativa de sus puntuaciones en procesamiento sucesivo. Los resultados obtenidos en 5o y 6o amplian el conocimiento existente sobre la eficacia de los programas de instruccion en comprension lectora al incluir, en el contexto de aprendizaje, el apoyo mediante preguntas para hacer conscientes a los estudiantes de las estrategias cognitivas mas eficientes para el desarrollo de la competencia lectora.