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Mathematical skills are essential to mastering everyday activities, making professional choices, and exercising citizenship in a numerate society. There is extensive evidence of the relationship between math anxiety (MA) and working memory (WM) influencing math attainment. Studies have mainly considered adult samples, however, leaving primary school children almost unexplored. This study is a first attempt to examine how the complex interplay between MA and WM affects math achievement from a developmental perspective. A total of 148 third graders were assessed with WM, general anxiety (GA), MA, and math tasks. Anxiety and WM were assessed at the beginning of the school year when children started attending grade 3, while math achievement was tested twice at the start of grades 3 and 4. The findings seem to confirm that GA has both a direct and an indirect effect (mediated by WM) on math performance in third and fourth graders. MA has a direct effect on math performance in grade 4, but only an indirect effect in grade 3, suggesting MA has a developmental trajectory, becoming stronger over time. The implications in the educational setting are discussed, pointing to the importance of a combined intervention on MA and WM.

Various studies have highlighted the important influence of math ability in a numerate society. In this study, we investigated the influence of emotional (math anxiety and math enjoyment) and cognitive-motivational (math self-efficacy) factors on math performance. Participants were 145 fifth-grade students (84 boys and 61 girls). The results showed that math performance was negatively correlated with math anxiety and positively correlated with math enjoyment and math self-efficacy. Moreover, math anxiety was negatively associated with enjoyment in math and math self-efficacy, whereas math enjoyment was positively correlated with math self-efficacy. Hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant influence of math anxiety and math self-efficacy on math performance in fifth-grade students. Results are discussed in terms of a new perspective in emotional and motivational factors to train in school contexts.

School closures because of the COVID-19 emergency forced a rapid transition to distance learning worldwide. In this study, we investigated teachers' experiences with distance learning during the first Italian lockdown. A sample of 270 primary and secondary teachers answered a semi-structured questionnaire administered between April and May 2020. Didactic modalities, students' and teachers' difficulties with distance learning, and teachers' feelings during school closure were investigated through open-ended questions. Content analysis indicated that most teachers adopted both synchronous and asynchronous modalities, which resembled the traditional classroom learning environment. Moreover, technological weaknesses (lack of proper digital equipment and poor digital skills) and lack of interactions appeared to be the main threats to the quality of distance learning. The implementation of distance learning in primary schools emerged as more challenging than in secondary education. Furthermore, most teachers experienced negative feelings during online teaching. However, 13% of the sample reported a sense of resilience and opportunity. Particularly, older teachers reported more resilience compared with younger teachers, indicating the importance of experience in managing stressful teaching events. Overall, findings suggest that-in this novel educational environment-teachers' role has changed significantly, placing strong emphasis on the ability to encourage communication, discussion, and contact with students. Future work should focus on how information and communications technology could sustain meaningful interactions between students and teachers, especially in primary education.

Previous studies found emotional factors, such as math anxiety, to be consistently related to students’ poor math performance. However, less is known about the link between math anxiety and children’s arithmetic word problem-solving achievement. A construct that seems to be associated with anxiety is the perceived task difficulty: judgments of difficulty may arouse feelings of worry which negatively impact students’ performance. In this presentation, data on the contributions of math anxiety and perceived task difficulty to arithmetic word problem-solving performance among primary school students will be reported. Fifth graders were administered a math anxiety scale, an arithmetic word problem task and a task evaluating the perception of problems’ difficulty. In particular, the arithmetic problem-solving task included compare problems which contain a relational term (e.g., more than and less than) that compares the value of two variables. Results revealed that math anxiety significantly predicted students’ problem-solving achievement and it completely mediated the relationship between perceived task difficulty and problem-solving performance. Moreover, a gender difference in math anxiety was found. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings will be discussed.

La valutazione precoce delle abilità cognitive alla base dell’apprendimento matematico rappresenta uno strumento funzionale all’individuazione dei bambini a rischio di difficoltà. Muovendosi in quest’ottica, il presente studio longitudinale, condotto nell’arco del primo anno della scuola dell’infanzia, ha l’obiettivo di indagare il ruolo di alcuni precursori cognitivi dominio-generali (Memoria di Lavoro verbale e visuo-spaziale e attenzione selettiva) e dominio-specifici (conteggio, riconoscimento di cifre e acuità dell’Approximate Number System) sia nel predire la competenza matematica sia nell’identificare i bambini a rischio in un campione di 153 partecipanti. I risultati, che rivelano un contributo significativo di abilità sia generali sia specifiche, sono discussi in termini di implicazioni cliniche.

Several studies have shown that music education may foster the development of executive functions (EF), a set of cognitive skills involved in memory, attention and the ability to inhibit distracting stimuli. However, the literature on the impact of music training on EF is still scarce. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate different components of EF, comparing children who were involved in musical activities with a group that was not. Results revealed that children who performed musical activities showed greater accuracy in inhibition tasks compared to children who did not attend music activities. Our findings are in agreement with the literature data, suggesting that music education can be a key intervention strategy to promote the development of EF, especially in the first years of primary school. Diversi studi hanno mostrato come l’educazione musicale sembri favorire lo sviluppo delle funzioni esecutive (FE), un insieme di abilità cognitive coinvolte nella memoria, nel mantenimento dell’attenzione e nella capacità di inibire stimoli distraenti. Tuttavia, queste abilità sono state poco indagate precocemente in età scolare e in relazione all’educazione musicale. Per questo motivo, lo scopo del presente studio è stato quello di indagare diverse componenti delle FE, confrontando un campione di bambini che svolge percorsi di educazione musicale con un gruppo che non svolge tali attività nei primi anni della scuola primaria. I risultati hanno mostrato come i bambini che conducono attività musicali abbiano un’accuratezza maggiore nei compiti di controllo dell’inibizione, rispetto ai bambini che non ne svolgono nessuna. I risultati sembrano supportare le evidenze descritte in letteratura, suggerendo come l’educazione musicale possa essere una strategia di intervento chiave per apportare benefici allo sviluppo delle FE, in particolar modo nei primi anni di età scolare.