Journal of Educational Psychology

Reading for university or for myself? Effects of context and beliefs about science on college students’ document selection.
Previous research on document selection has found that college-level readers are generally able to differentiate trustworthy from less trustworthy sources. Yet, a preference for selecting trustworthy sources may depend on features of the reading situation and readers’ beliefs in science. In the current study, college students were tasked with selecting documents for either a university assignment or a personal project (external context manipulation) using documents that varied in the type of source (i.e., a source with scientific expertise or a source with personal experiences) as a within-participants manipulation. Moreover, participants’ beliefs about science and knowledge about how science works were assessed. In two experiments (N = 165 and N = 125), participants selected documents for further reading for four target topics. In Experiment 2, a personal condition was added that included mention of an external audience for the assignment. Like in previous studies, participants in both experiments preferred scientific-expertise sources over personal-experiences sources. However, their likelihood of selecting a personal-experiences source was higher in a personal context without an external audience (compared to university context). More positive beliefs about science as well as knowledge about how science works were associated with a lower probability of selecting sources with personal experiences. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and extended the findings regarding external context. Although college-level readers generally prefer scientific sources, their selection of sources without scientific expertise also depends on the external reading context as well as on personal beliefs and knowledge about science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Uncovering the timing and target: The unique longitudinal contribution of theory of mind to reading comprehension across elementary school.
This study aimed to examine the unique longitudinal role of theory of mind (ToM) on reading comprehension among primary school children, while controlling for other influencing factors. It also examined how this impact varies by grade, text genre, and processing level. A sample of 430 Chinese children in Grades 2, 4, and 6 was observed over a period of 6 months. For each grade, longitudinal hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the unique contribution of ToM to reading comprehension across different text genres and processing levels. By controlling for variables such as reading frequency, decoding, vocabulary, nonverbal intelligence, listening comprehension, and executive function, ToM cannot predict the overall reading comprehension of children in Grade 2, but can predict it of children in Grades 4 and 6. For specific text genres, ToM predicted narrative comprehension in both Grades 4 and 6 and expository comprehension only in Grade 6. For specific processing levels, ToM predicted advanced comprehension in Grades 4 and 6 and basic comprehension only in Grade 6. Furthermore, ToM predicted advanced narrative and expository comprehension in Grades 4 and 6, and basic expository comprehension in Grade 6. These findings highlight the important role of ToM in reading comprehension development, particularly in the middle and upper stages of primary school. These results lay the foundation for further research on exploring the underlying mechanisms of the impact of ToM on reading comprehension and provide a social-cognitive perspective to enhance the development of reading comprehension. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Latent profiles as predictors of response to instruction for students with reading difficulties.
Prior research supports the need for elementary-aged students with reading difficulties (RDs) to receive explicit systematic small-group evidence-based reading instruction. Yet for many students, simply receiving evidence-based reading instruction in a small-group setting is insufficient to reach the progress milestones needed to meet grade-level reading standards. The current study examined whether (a) elementary school students with RD constitute homogeneous or heterogeneous groups when considering their basic language and cognitive skills (using a latent profile analysis) and (b) latent profiles are predictive of response to reading comprehension instruction (using a mixed modeling approach). The sample consisted of 335 students, including students with RD and typical students (n = 57). The results revealed heterogeneity within students with RD—there were two distinct profiles, with one having higher basic language (reading fluency and decoding) and cognitive (verbal domain productivity, cognitive flexibility, and working memory) skills and lower attention skills and the other having stronger attention skills and lower basic language and cognitive skills. The findings also suggested that latent profiles were predictive of response to reading comprehension instruction. Our results provide a convincing argument for leading the field in the direction of developing customized interventions. It is conceivable, but remains to be further examined, that researchers and educators could potentially improve reading outcomes through providing a customized reading intervention to a student based on their cognitive–language profile. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Fraction arithmetic development: An examination of students’ patterns of growth and errors across the intermediate grades.
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 revealed three empirically distinct growth trajectories: (a) consistently accurate students who displayed high accuracy across time; (b) high-growth students who demonstrated low initial accuracy but made subsequent growth; and (c) low-growth students who demonstrated consistently poor accuracy across time. Age and whole number calculation fluency predicted membership in the consistently accurate and high-growth classes relative to membership in the low-growth class. Language and nonverbal reasoning skills were identified as predictors of student membership in the consistently accurate versus low-growth class. Low-growth students displayed more whole number bias and calculation errors compared with students who demonstrated growth. Findings reveal that a concerning subset of students make little to no progress in simple fraction arithmetic computation, despite several years of fractions instruction in school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Subtypes of mathematics disability: A new classification method based on cognitive diagnostic models and their cognitive–linguistic correlates.
This study aims to classify subtypes of mathematics disability (MD) using a novel classification method, cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs), and examine whether domain-general skills, namely, linguistic, working memory, and spatial skills, were related to the identification of the subtypes. Participants were 454 children (246 boys; age: M ± SD = 88.66 ± 5.92 months), including 204 MD children and a control group of 250 low-achieving children, who were identified from a sample of 3,384 second graders in China. Six MD subtypes were classified: the symbolic and concept deficits group, the verbal and concept deficits group, the pervasive deficits group, the concept deficits group, the mapping and concept deficits group, and the unknown deficits group. The reliability and validity of using CDMs to identify MD subtypes were evaluated. Different constellations of working memory, spatial, and linguistic skills were found to contribute to different MD subtypes. Identifying subtypes of MD and their domain-general correlates sheds light on appropriate interventions targeting different MD subtypes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
No evidence that playing a linear number board game improves numerical skills beyond teaching as usual: A randomized controlled trial in 4- to 5-year-old primary school children.
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 development of early numerical skills in children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Previous studies have highlighted the effectiveness of linear number board games for improving early numerical skills, and the beneficial effect of counting backward as well as forward. We designed a number board game that required children to place number cards in order on a line, either forward-only or forward and backward in small groups in the classroom. The game’s effectiveness was evaluated in 4- to 5-year-old children from schools located in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. Children were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: playing the number game forward-only (n = 82), playing the number game forward and backward (i.e., bidirectional condition; n = 82), or an alphabet game (active control, n = 85). After eight gameplay sessions across 5 weeks, children’s numerical and letter-sound knowledge skills improved, but there was no significant effect of the intervention condition. Neither forward nor bidirectional number line games (nor the alphabet game) added benefits beyond the learning already happening in the classroom. Short linear board game interventions may be effective compared to control groups who received minimal or absent numerical education, but they fail to provide an additional advantage when children are already learning mathematics in school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
The need for relatedness in college engineering: A self-determination lens on academic help seeking.
This study draws on basic psychological needs (BPN) theory to investigate multiple ways that perceived relatedness is important for understanding students’ help-seeking behavior in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Participants were 590 undergraduates (38% women; 65% European American, 24% Asian/Pacific Islander, 11% underrepresented minorities) who were enrolled in engineering coursework. We used structural equation modeling to examine the independent and interactive associations of students’ BPN satisfaction (competence, relatedness, and autonomy) with their help-seeking behavior. Findings indicate that strong relatedness with both the instructor and peers are uniquely and differentially associated with specific types of adaptive help seeking (oriented to learning) and maladaptive help seeking (avoidance or asking for the answer), whereas competence and autonomy primarily explained differences in maladaptive types of help seeking. Moreover, many of these associations were dependent on students’ relatedness with their instructor. Additional multigroup analyses revealed that instructor relatedness was especially critical for understanding women’s help seeking. Results indicate that experiencing relatedness in college STEM programs—particularly positive relationships with instructors—is crucial for students’ adaptive help seeking in difficult courses, while minimizing their maladaptive help-seeking behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
The unique importance of motivation and mindsets for students’ learning behavior and achievement: An examination at the level of between-student differences and within-student fluctuations.
This study examined the unique and interactive role of students’ quality of motivation, as defined in self-determination theory, and their mindsets about intelligence, as conceptualized in Dweck’s framework, in predicting a variety of learning outcomes (engagement, learning strategies, persistence, procrastination, and test anxiety) and achievement. Moving beyond past work, this study examined their effects both at the level of between-student differences and at the level of semester-to-semester fluctuations within students’ own functioning, thereby controlling for students’ cognitive ability. The study had a four-wave longitudinal design, following 3,415 seventh-grade students across a 2-year period with 6-month intervals (49.8% female; Mage = 12.65 years). Multilevel analyses demonstrated that autonomous motivation and effort beliefs had independent and favorable associations with most outcomes and that controlled motivation and a fixed mindset related more uniquely to maladaptive outcomes, findings that emerged at both levels of analysis. This pattern of associations was held after controlling for students’ cognitive ability and applied to both students with high and low cognitive ability. The number of interactions between motivation and mindsets was quite limited. It can be concluded that the quality of motivation and mindsets about intelligence represent compatible resources for learning that help to explain between-student and within-student differences in learning and achievement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
“Mindfulset”—harnessing or unleashing learning potential through mindfulness mindset.
This research introduces the “Mindfulness Mindset Scale,” a concise and reliable tool designed to measure beliefs about the malleability of mindfulness skills. Study 1 (N = 285) revealed a single-factor structure through exploratory factor analysis, further validated in Study 2 (N = 286) using confirmatory factor analysis. Studies 3a (N = 266) and 3b (N = 320) revealed associations between the Mindfulness Mindset Scale and other measures of mindset, trait mindfulness, and coping, showing reasonable convergent and divergent validity. Study 4 (N = 470) showed the predictive validity of the mindfulness mindset, being correlated with behavioral persistence, effort, resilience, challenge-seeking, and academic grades. Study 5 (N = 320) supported the academic correlates of malleable beliefs of mindfulness beyond the mental health factors from Study 3 in two countries. In Study 6 (NFrench = 613, NHungarian = 524), we demonstrated that a well-established learning mindset intervention can lead to changes in mindfulness mindset in two national contexts. Finally, a brief mindfulness mindset intervention designed for Study 7 (N = 208) also led to changes in malleability beliefs about mindfulness skills. These behavioral results suggest that beliefs about mindfulness being malleable are a novel construct distinct from trait mindfulness. Such beliefs are related to adaptive psychological mechanisms relevant in educational contexts, considering students’ coping, mastery behavior, and academic performance. Importantly, these beliefs can be modified by brief interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal of Educational Psychology - Vol 116, Iss 3