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Effects of working memory updating on children's arithmetic performance and strategy use: A study in computational
Svenja Hammerstein1, Sebastian Poloczek2, Patrick Lösche1
1Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, 60629 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Centre for Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk (IDeA), 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|May 1, 2019
Summary
Children’s working memory updating skills impact their math strategy use. More efficient updating leads to better strategy flexibility, adaptivity, and performance in arithmetic tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Working memory is crucial for cognitive tasks, including arithmetic.
- Updating, a key component of working memory, involves maintaining and manipulating information.
- Understanding how working memory updating influences children's arithmetic strategies is essential for educational interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between working memory updating processes and arithmetic performance in children.
- To examine how working memory updating affects strategy selection and execution in solving addition problems.
- To explore age-related differences in the influence of working memory updating on arithmetic strategy use.
Main Methods:
- A large sample of third and fourth graders estimated two-digit addition problems.
- Children could choose between rounding-down or rounding-up strategies.
- Four tasks assessed working memory updating efficiency.
Main Results:
- Children with more efficient updating demonstrated greater strategy flexibility and adaptivity.
- Efficient updaters selected better strategies more often and adapted to problem types.
- Faster strategy execution, particularly on larger problems, was observed in children with better updating skills.
- Working memory updating played a more significant role in younger children's arithmetic strategy use.
Conclusions:
- Working memory updating is a critical factor in children's arithmetic strategy development and performance.
- Interventions aimed at improving working memory updating may enhance children's mathematical abilities.
- The findings highlight the importance of considering working memory in educational settings to support diverse learners.