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Childhood wellbeing is essential for positive outcomes in adulthood, as is academic attainment. Schools play a pivotal role in laying the foundations for children to live well. However, research investigating the relationship between wellbeing and attainment has relied on conceptualisations of wellbeing that are too broad (i.e. overall and domain-general wellbeing) or samples spanning large age ranges (thereby overlooking developmental differences). Additionally, the role of mindset, a potentially co-occurring psychological state of both wellbeing and attainment, has been neglected. This study therefore investigated the wellbeing-attainment relationship in 942 children aged 9–11 (447 male, M age = 10.5; 495 female, M age = 10.6) across 17 schools in England (UK). Structural equation models distinguished between overall wellbeing, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia, examining associations of each with children's attainment on standardised tests, accounting for mindsets, achievement goals, and sociodemographic factors. Results indicated lower life satisfaction was significantly associated with higher attainment on average, and in English and Mathematics, while eudaimonia was not significantly related to attainment. Overall wellbeing was negatively associated with Mathematics attainment only. A growth mindset was positively associated, while a fixed mindset was negatively associated, with wellbeing. In turn, a growth mindset was significantly positively associated, while a fixed mindset was negatively associated, with attainment. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The existing research on dialogue‐based learning and teaching predominantly highlights its capacity to yield productive educational outcomes, yet it often overlooks the pivotal factor of participation equity, which is fundamental to ensuring the efficacy of dialogic teaching and learning. Objectives: In this study, participation equity refers to a condition in which participation itself and opportunities to participate are fairly distributed among participants and all participants are equally listened to and respected. We designed a technology‐enhanced participatory visual learning analytical approach to promote equitable participation in dialogic collaborative problem solving from four dimensions: participation (i.e., ensuring equal contributions from all participants), opportunity (i.e., promoting equal engagement with others), responsiveness (i.e., encouraging equal attentiveness and responsiveness to others' input), and respect (i.e., cultivating a respectful communication style). Methods: The intervention class of fourth‐grade students (n = 59) interacted with a participatory visual learning analytical tool to reflect on their participation equity and learn productive peer talk moves to address equity issues concerning the four dimensions, while a comparison class (n = 59) only received simple feedback on participation and respect. Results: The results indicated that equal participation rates among group members were insufficient to secure participation equity. The intervention was effective in helping students realize and address equity‐related issues. Intervention students were more equitable regarding responsiveness and participation opportunity than the comparison students. Conclusions: The proposed multidimensional participation equity framework has the potential to deepen the understanding of equity and promote equitable learning interactions. Lay Description: What is currently known: Peer discussion has the potential to bring productive educational gains.Participation equity is essential in productive collaborative discussion.Participation equity currently mainly concerns the equality of participation. What we add: We use technology to help children analyse, visualize and reflect on participation equity.We use technology to teach students how to talk in an equitable approach.We define equity in four dimensions: participation, opportunity, responsiveness and respect. The implications for practitioners: Students should be guided to participate equally and respectfully in a group.Students should also be guided to equally listen to other group members' voices.Students should also be guided to equally address other group members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive disengagement syndrome (CDS), previously referred to as sluggish cognitive tempo, is a set of symptoms characterized by excessive daydreaming, mental fogginess, and slowed behavior/thinking. Studies examining the association between CDS and academic functioning have reported mixed findings and have relied upon limited measures of CDS, broad ratings of academic impairment, and/or focused only on elementary-aged children. The current study examined the relationship between CDS and academic functioning in adolescents using a comprehensive, multi-informant, multi-method design. Participants were 302 adolescents (Mage = 13.17 years; 44.7% female; 81.8% White; 52% with ADHD) recruited in the fall of their 8th grade. Above and beyond ADHD inattentive symptoms, CDS symptoms were related to poorer homework performance, lower math fluency, and lower daily academic motivation across multiple informants, and teacher-reported CDS symptoms were related to lower grades. Findings were not moderated by ADHD diagnosis, suggesting that associations between CDS and academic outcomes do not differ for adolescents with and without ADHD. Findings demonstrate that CDS symptoms are uniquely associated with daily academic difficulties as well as global indices of academic performance. These findings have implications for assessing and monitoring CDS symptoms in interventions aiming to improve the academic functioning in adolescents with and without ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties in accurate and fluent reading, spelling, and writing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of students with suspected dyslexia and its impact on math performance among elementary-level students in Nepal. A mixed-method approach was employed, involving a sample of 1,661 students in grade V and grade VI. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, students with suspected dyslexia were identified using the dyslexia checklist for teachers, dyslexia checklist for parents, and dyslexia self-assessment questionnaire. In the second phase, observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted to verify the suspected students with dyslexia. The study revealed that the incidence of students with suspected dyslexia among elementary school students was 8.97%. Among the students with suspected dyslexia, the occurrence rate was slightly higher in males (10.42%) compared to females (7.90%). Additionally, the researchers assessed the impact of dyslexia by comparing the math test scores between students with suspected dyslexia and those without dyslexia. The results demonstrated significantly lower performance among students with dyslexia compared to their non-dyslexic peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in solving real-world problems is challenging. To tackle this challenge, a project-based learning approach that integrates robots with cost-effective self-made toys to problem-solving was adopted to assist rural primary school students to apply STEM skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the project-based learning approach which includes lecturing and hands-on activities on primary school students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes. An experiment was conducted with 25 primary school students who voluntarily participated in a STEM summer-camp programme. Students were asked to assemble a paper house equipped with an IoT control module and LED light switches, and write and edit robot scripts to produce a robot-based storytelling narrative using the paper house they made as a context. The results show that the project-based learning approach was an effective approach for cultivating primary school students' STEM knowledge and skills as evidenced from the post-written test. The relationships between the students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes were also confirmed by a clustering analysis. Students who had higher learning attitudes also achieved higher STEM learning outcomes; the findings are also supported by the feedback from the open-ended questionnaire items. This study suggests that integrating low-cost self-made toys and robots in project-based learning activities is an effective and practical approach to enhance primary school students' learning outcomes and learning attitudes in STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher expectations not only relate positively to student achievement, but also to student beliefs such as their self-concept. Nevertheless, most studies focus on the relations with student achievement, followed by studies on beliefs. Beliefs are a significant determinant of academic success and can include student self-concept or emotions, such as anxiety. The extent to which anxiety can be influenced by teacher expectations has been investigated in very few studies. This paper examined how teacher expectations related to changes in student achievement, self-concept, and anxiety in mathematics within a school year. The data were from a longitudinal study "Outcomes of teacher education", funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and based on 28 teachers and 509 primary school students. Teacher expectations were operationalized using the residual approach. Student mathematics achievement was assessed via a standardized mathematics test and their self-concept as well as their mathematics anxiety via a questionnaire. The multi-level structure was considered in the analyses, because the interclass-correlation of student mathematics achievement exceeded the critical value of 10%. The results showed that teacher expectations were positively related to student achievement as well as self-concept and negatively related to anxiety towards mathematics. The change in the explained variance was small (self-concept and anxiety) to large (achievement). The results extend findings on the expectation effect in the classroom, as they focus not only on student achievement but also on student beliefs and are discussed regarding their significance for academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kindergarteners' numerical abilities are fundamental to their future academic development. The cognitive correlates of numerical abilities remain in debate. The present study examined whether non-verbal number sense and literacy could persistently predict kindergarteners' numerical abilities. A large-scale sample consisting of 930 children aged from 5.0 to 6.9 years were assessed for numerical abilities (addition and subtraction), non-verbal number sense (numerosity comparison), literacy (character reading), and general cognitive processing (word span, rapid automatized naming, mental rotation, figure matching and rhythm). The results showed that, after controlling for all other aspects of cognitive processing available, non-verbal number sense did not correlate with numerical abilities, while literacy was a stable cognitive predictor of numerical abilities in both age groups. And rapid automatized naming (RAN) was the most powerful cognitive predictor in the 6 years of age group. Further dominance analysis also showed that literacy was the most important predictor of numerical performance in the 5 years of age group and was next only to RAN in the 6 years of age group. The results suggest that literacy rather than non-verbal number sense is a unique cognitive correlate for kindergartener's numerical abilities. We argue that increased focus on natural language, especially literacy, may help to improve kindergarteners' math ability. Highlights: A large-scale sample consisting of 930 Chinese children aged from 5.0 to 6.9 years were assessed for numerical abilities, non-verbal number sense, literacy, and general cognitive processing. The link between non-verbal number sense and children's numerical abilities did not survive after controlling for other cognitive processing. Literacy rather than non-verbal number sense is a stable cognitive correlate for kindergartener's numerical abilities in 5.0–6.9 years old kindergarteners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined whether sport participation in preschool was related to executive functioning (EF) and academic outcomes (i.e., math, language, literacy) in the fall and spring of kindergarten, as well as whether EF in the fall of kindergarten mediated the relation between sport participation in preschool and academic outcomes in the spring of kindergarten. The sample was drawn from a state-funded prekindergarten program evaluation (n = 120 children; mean age at baseline = 57.63 months, female = 47%, mean monthly family income = $1636.92). Parents reported on child sport participation in the spring of the child's preschool year. Children were directly assessed on EF and academic achievement in the fall and spring of kindergarten. Results revealed that sport participation in preschool only predicted literacy in the spring of kindergarten. There was no evidence that EF mediated the relation between sport participation and academic outcomes. Implications and future directions are discussed. Highlights: Preschool sport participation may predict specific academic skills in kindergarten. Executive functioning did not mediate the relation between sport and academic skills. Varied conceptualizations of sport may inform relations between sport and cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-related differences in physical activity (PA), maturity status (PHV), physical performance (PP), and academic achievement (AA) among schoolchildren in Qatar were examined. Sixty-nine students from a school in Doha were categorized into three equal (n = 23) groups: 11-year-old students (U11; male: n = 14), 12-year-old students (U12: male: n = 7), and 13-year-old students (U13: male: n = 11). The testing process comprised a medicine ball throw, Stork balance test, hand grip strength test, the T-half test (PP), GPA in Arabic, mathematics, science (AA), International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (PA), and Moore's equations (PHV). Relevant age-related differences (p < 0.001) were identified in mathematics, science, the T-half test, maturity, and arm span. Notably, differences between adjacent age groups were evident between U11 and U12, concerning arm span, maturity, mathematics, and science, and between U12 and U13 (the T-half test, mathematics, science). Concerning AP, the performance maxima were calculated for U12 (mathematics, science) and U11 (Arabic). Regarding PP, performance maxima were only observed for U13. Except for the moderate level, the highest levels of PA were detected in U13. Maturity status and anthropometric parameters did not differ significantly between age groups. However, AA demonstrated the most notable age-related differences. Specifically, mathematics showed substantial differences between adjacent age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This review systematically summarizes the studies of the relationship between primary-to-secondary school students' motor skills and academic achievement, and analyzes the relationship between gross and fine motor skills and performance in different subjects. Method: Five electronic databases, Web Of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, and Academic Search Premier, were searched in March 2023. Semi-quantitative assessment methods were used to analyze the results of the included studies. Results: Seventy-eight articles were included in this systematic review. The semi-quantitative assessment results showed that gross (+, 65.0/62.5%) and fine motor skills (+, 83.3/80%) were positively correlated with overall performance and language performance, with ≥60% of the associations in the same direction. For different subjects, fine motor skills were positively correlated with students' mathematics (+, 75.0%), reading (+, 72.7%), writing (+, 66.7%), and spelling (+, 60.0%) scores. However, the association between gross motor skills and students' mathematics achievement (?, 52.8%), reading (?, 53.8%), and spelling (?, 50.0%) is uncertain, with <60% of the associations in the same direction. Conclusions: It is wise to direct our gaze toward the evolution of motor skills among students, especially primary school students. Different motor skill intervention modes should be selected in a targeted manner according to different subject achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing evidence suggests that success in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is not only dependent upon one's actual STEM-relevant abilities but also upon one's STEM-relevant attitudes—in particular, math and spatial attitudes. Here, we examine whether simply mentioning the math or spatial relevance of a task affects children's performance and the moderating role of children's math and spatial attitudes. Further, we examine gender differences in performance given pervasive gender gaps in STEM and early-emerging gender differences in math and spatial attitudes. Participants (221 first- to fourth-grade children from the United States; 113 girls, 108 boys; 52% White, 16% Black, 14% Asian, 9% Hispanic or Latinx, 18% multiple races/ethnicities) were introduced to a novel task framed as tapping into math or spatial abilities (or no framing [control condition]). Children then completed math and spatial anxiety and self-concept measures. Results indicate that children who heard the math task framing were less accurate relative to children in the control condition, and the effect was larger for those with higher math anxiety or lower math self-concept, but it was not different for boys and girls. Children who heard the spatial task framing, however, performed comparably to children in the control condition. Though both math and spatial attitudes revealed identical patterns of gender differences (with higher anxiety and lower self-concept in girls than boys), there were no gender differences in performance. This study highlights the salient role of math attitudes early in development and provides key insights for future work aimed at increasing STEM outcomes. Public Significance Statement: Findings reveal that children perform worse on a novel task when it is described as being related to math—but not spatial—skills, and this effect is strongest for children with more negative math attitudes. Moreover, girls had more negative math and spatial attitudes than did boys, but gender differences were not observed in performance on the task. Findings provide key insights into processes implicated in science, technology, engineering, and math outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anemia is a global public health problem, especially common among children in developing countries, which affects their physical and mental health development. However, there is currently a lack of research on the relationship between anemia and academic performance. The objective of this study was to explore the association between anemia and academic performance, and the possible factors mediating this association among Chinese children. The data for this study came from the baseline survey of the Chinese Education Panel Survey Elementary School Cohort. The cohort was conducted from September 2018 to June 2019 in 160 elementary schools, covering 20 provinces and 40 counties/districts throughout China. Paper-based questionnaires were used, completed by 4th grade students, parents, head teachers, main teachers, and principals. The data used included questionnaire responses, physical measurements, and academic performance of 17,695 students. Based on students' hemoglobin levels and school altitude data, we grouped them into anemia and nonanemia categories using WHO criteria. The anemia group had 1,154 individuals, while the nonanemia group had 16,541 individuals. An ordinary least squares regression and mediation effect analysis were conducted. Our findings found the prevalence of anemia was 6.52% among Chinese Grade 4 students. Students without anemia had a higher average test score for three academic subjects than students with anemia (P < 0.001); their test scores for Chinese, Mathematics, and English were also higher (P < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed a negative association between anemia and average test scores as well as individual test scores for the three subjects. Mediation analysis found that anemia affected academic performance directly (P < 0.05), and indirectly by decreasing the cognition score (P < 0.05). The indirect effect was 19.9% of the total effect. Findings highlighted anemia affected academic performance both directly and indirectly. Nutrition-related interventions should be implemented to prevent a decrease in academic performance among students with anemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Teacher expectations and student motivation decrease at the end of second grade. • Changes in teacher expectations and student motivation are correlated. • Teacher expectations influence subsequent change of student motivation. While teacher expectations are known to influence students' academic achievement, they may also exert significant influences on student motivation, which is a precursor to a student's achievement as well. A number of previous studies have demonstrated that motivation affects a student's achievement. There is, however, a dearth of longitudinal research examining the relation between teacher expectations and students' motivational variables. In this article, we examine the relations between teacher expectations of students' mathematics ability, students' mathematics-related competence beliefs, and students' mathematics-related intrinsic task-values. Our sample consisted of 796 second-grade students and their 50 teachers; the data collection was conducted at three points within a school year. Longitudinal latent change score analyses yielded three main results: First, teacher expectations of students' mathematics ability and both students' mathematics-related competence beliefs and intrinsic task values decreased significantly in the second half of the school year. Second, regarding correlated changes, students who experienced larger increases in teacher expectations also demonstrated higher increases in competence beliefs and intrinsic task values in mathematics. Third, after controlling for students' initial mathematics achievement, effects of teacher expectations of students' mathematics ability at the beginning of the school year on subsequent changes in students' mathematics-related competence beliefs and intrinsic task values were revealed. Our study highlights the important role of teacher expectations in shaping students' motivational variables, which underscores the need for teacher training programs and policy interventions aimed at increasing teachers' awareness of their expectations and how they can foster a positive learning environment for their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]