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Non-routine word problem solving is an essential feature of the mathematical development of elementary school students worldwide. Many students experience difficulties in solving these problems due to erroneous problem comprehension. These difficulties could be alleviated by instructing students how to use visual representations that clarify the problem structure and the relations between solution-relevant elements (so-called visual-schematic representations). Research shows that instructional effectiveness depends largely on teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching. Teachers' knowledge of visual representations is therefore essential to instructing word problem comprehension in this way. As there is little to no literature investigating teachers' practices in this area, the goal of the present study is to examine teachers' use of visual representations to support non-routine word problem solving. Eight mainstream elementary school teachers implemented an innovative approach focused on the use of visual-schematic representations. After a short training, teachers were able to produce these representations during instruction. However, some teachers seemed unclear about what these representations comprise and what function they serve within the word problem solving context. Teachers seemed to base their use of representations on personal preferences rather than on an optimal fit with the word problem characteristics. These aspects need to be addressed in teacher training and professional development programs. This study makes an unique contribution to research in the important and problematic area of word problem solving in regular classrooms. The results of this study are relevant for educational researcher, teachers, and teacher educators who deal with difficulties in instructing mathematical word problems.

It is often argued that enhancement of self-beliefs should be one of the key goals of education. However, very little is known about the relation between self-beliefs and performance when students move from primary to secondary school in highly differentiated educational systems with early tracking. This large-scale longitudinal cohort study examines the extent to which academic self-efficacy (i.e., how confident students are that they will be able to master their schoolwork) and math self-concept (i.e., students' perceived math competence) mediate the relation between math performance at the end of primary school (Grade 6) and the end of lower secondary school (Grade 9) in such a system. The study involved 843 typically-developing students in the Netherlands. Self-efficacy and math self-concept were measured with self-report questionnaires. Math performance was measured with nationally validated tests. The relation between math performance in Grade 6 and in Grade 9 was uniquely mediated by both self-efficacy in Grade 6 and math self-concept in Grade 9, but in opposing directions. Math self-concept was the most influential mediator, explaining nearly a quarter of the total effect of Grade 6 math performance on Grade 9 math performance. Unexpectedly, high self-efficacy in Grade 6 was negatively related to Grade 9 math performance, particularly for girls and high-track students. These findings suggest that self-efficacy may not necessarily be a protective factor in highly differentiated early tracking educational systems and may need to be actively managed when students move to secondary school.

Children practice their spatial skills when playing with spatial toys, such as construction materials, board games, and puzzles. Sex and SES differences are observed in the engagement in such spatial play activities at home, which relate to individual differences in spatial performance. The current study investigated the effects of explicitly providing spatial play activities in the school setting on different types of spatial ability. We presented 8- to 10-year-old children with a short and easy-to-adopt classroom intervention comprising a set of different spatial play materials. The design involved a pretest-posttest comparison between the intervention group (n = 70) and a control group without intervention (n = 70). Effects were examined on object transformation ability (i.e., a paper-and-pencil mental rotation and paper folding task) and viewer transformation ability (i.e., a hands-on 3D spatial perspective-taking task). Results showed specific effects: there were no differences between the intervention and control group in progress on the two object transformation tasks. Substantial improvements were found for the intervention group compared to the control group on the viewer transformation task. Training progress was not related to sex and socioeconomic background of the child. These findings support the value of spatial play in the classroom for the spatial development of children between 8 and 10 years of age.

Children with a rich home literacy environment generally show better reading comprehension. For children in the higher grades of primary school, this relation is thought to be indirect. We propose a model in which this relation ran via children's higher order language and cognitive skills (i.e., expressive verbal ability and mentalizing ability) and via print exposure. In our correlational study with 117 children ages 8-11, we found both a direct relation between children's home literacy environment and reading comprehension and 2 indirect relations: via children's print exposure and via mentalizing abilities. There was no significant indirect relation via expressive verbal abilities. Our findings imply that enhancing children's mentalizing abilities and encouraging them to read books might contribute to their reading comprehension. In addition, parental involvement in children's reading activities can contribute to their reading performance, both directly and indirectly, even in this age group.

This cross-sectional survey study examined the relation between mental imagery (i.e., seeing images of a story "in the mind's eye") and perceived self-competence in reading. The study was conducted with a group of seventh-grade to ninth-grade students in the prevocational educational track of secondary schools in the Netherlands and their parents. Results showed a moderate relation between mental imagery and self-competence beliefs, also after controlling for the quality of students' home literacy environment. Examination of gender differences revealed that girls outperformed boys in self-competence beliefs. Furthermore, boys perceived themselves as better readers when their parents had higher mental imagery skills. No direct relation was found between parents' and adolescents' mental imagery skills. These findings imply that parents and teachers may need to be made aware of the importance of mental imagery strategies as it may enhance the reading experiences of boys as well as girls.

Cognitive challenges during transition to adulthood are generally high and require particular skills, such as self-control, performance evaluation, and behavioral adjustment for success in everyday living. However, age and sex differences in timing and efficiency of brain maturational processes in the early twenties are not well known. We used a go/no-go paradigm and fMRI to focus on the neural processes underlying response inhibition and performance monitoring during the transition from late adolescence (aged 18-19) to young adulthood (aged 23-25). During performance monitoring, late adolescents showed more activation in right inferior frontal gyrus than young adults, while males showed more activation in left inferior parietal lobe than females. No effects of age and sex were found for response inhibition. Our findings suggest that age and sex-related differences in neural basis of performance monitoring continue to change between late adolescence and young adulthood.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher perceptions and children's reading motivation, with specific attention to gender differences. The reading self-concept, task value, and attitude of 160 fifth and sixth graders were measured. Teachers rated each student's reading comprehension. Results showed that for boys, teacher expectations had no influence on the three constructs of reading motivation measured, whereas for girls, teacher expectations did predict reading self-concept and value of reading. The results provide evidence that the relationship between motivational factors and teacher perceptions is different for boys and girls. The implications for educational practice are addressed.

In countries with high differentiation between academic and vocational education, an individual's future prospects are strongly determined by the educational track to which he or she is assigned. This large-scale, cross-sectional study focuses on low-performing students in academic tracks who face being moved to a vocational track. If more is understood about these students, measures could be taken to improve their performance and keep them within academic education. The study investigates performance patterns in academic tracks in the first three years of secondary school in the Netherlands. By identifying patterns that reveal how competence levels in different domains are related at different stages of development and by comparing low performers with other students, the study sheds light on individual and educational aspects that may be amenable to intervention. School grades were analysed for 1596 students. School performance was found to reflect three domains--"languages" (language of schooling and modern foreign languages), "social studies" and "science and math"--that appear to interact in a process of co-construction. General language skills were robustly related to performance in other domains--particularly "social studies"--throughout the first three years of secondary school. By comparison, proficiency specifically in the language of schooling was less strongly related to "social studies" and "science and math" performance after the first year. Suggestions are given as to how educators and curriculum developers could use these insights to accommodate individual and developmental differences and to develop learning materials that may help low performers keep on track.

This study investigates how shared picture book storytelling within a peer-group setting could stimulate causal reasoning in children aged 4½ to 6 years. Twenty-eight children from preschool classes of three schools were allocated to one of six groups (four to five children per group). Each group participated in six storytelling sessions over a period of 2 weeks. During these sessions, the children freely generated stories from stimuli in two picture books. Storytelling discourse was analyzed in the groups that showed the lowest and the highest pre- to postintervention improvement on a series of causal reasoning tasks. In the most-improving group, discourse was distinguished by detailed interpretations of perceptual features, causal explanations, and explicit justifications of statements. The least-improving group was distinguished by "superficial" talk (i.e., labeling perceptual features, simple inferences, uncritical acceptance of statements, and disagreements). These types of discourse could be related to time spent on storytelling. The findings generate hypotheses for future research on stimulating causal reasoning in early childhood education.

Developing fluency in arithmetic facts is instrumental to mathematics learning. This study compares the effects of two practice conditions on children's fluency in simple multiplication facts. Third and fourth graders in the Netherlands (N = 282) practised in either a conventional "recall" condition where they produced answers to problems, or a "choice" condition where they had to choose between competing answers that included common multiplication errors. Practice in the choice condition was faster and as accurate as recall practice but was not more beneficial to performance on speed tests of practised facts. For more experienced students, recall practice led to greater improvement on a conventional recall fluency test. Differential effects of practice conditions on test performance are explained in terms of practice-to-test transfer demands. The relative merits of recall and choice tasks in multiplication fact learning are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a shortened version of the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) under an item response theory framework (the one- and two-parameter logistic models). The shortened Raven SPM was administered to N = 453 cognitively healthy adults aged between 24 and 83 years. The IQ point estimates that were obtained under the one- and two-parameter logistic models were very similar (r = 0.97), but the two-parameter logistic-based test version had a higher measurement precision. The results showed that older age and being female were associated with a lower Raven SPM test performance. A user-friendly computer program was provided to facilitate the scoring and norming of the shortened Raven SPM under the different frameworks. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)

The Memory Compensation Questionnaire (MCQ) is a psychometrically sound instrument that assesses the variety and extent to which an individual compensates for actual or perceived memory losses. Until now, only an English version of the MCQ has been psychometrically evaluated. The aim of the present study was to establish a Dutch version of the MCQ and evaluate its psychometric properties. The MCQ data of N = 556 cognitively healthy adults (61.8% females) aged between 50.1 and 95.3 years (M = 73.9 years, SD = 8.0) were analyzed. The results showed that the factor structure of the Dutch version of the MCQ corresponded well with that of the English version of the MCQ. The reliabilities of the scales of the Dutch version of the MCQ were all high (all Cronbach's [alpha]s [greater than or equal to] 0.77). Demographic variables (especially age and gender) affected most of the MCQ scale scores. Regression-based normative data that take these demographic influences into account were established, and a user-friendly computer program was provided to facilitate the scoring and norming of the MCQ. (Contains 9 tables.)

Objective: To provide more insight into subjective attention complaints in a healthy adult and elderly population and how these affect Quality of Life (QoL). Method: A group of 1,550 healthy Dutch participants complete a postal questionnaire including items from the Maastricht Attention and Memory Checklist (MAC). The impact of attention complaints on QoL is investigated in a subsample of 499 participants. Results: Factor analysis (N = 1,550) reveals two factors: Attention and Memory. Attention complaints are related to depressed mood, anxiety, vitality, and sleep problems that can have serious consequences for daily life functioning and QoL (n = 499). Memory complaints are related to other aspects of health, such as pain and changes in health. Conclusion: Attention complaints in the healthy population are common and related to depression, anxiety, and sleep and several aspects of QoL, such as problems with social functioning, emotional problems, and vitality. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

This paper presents a comprehensive group intervention for older adults with cognitive complaints. It offers psychoeducation about cognitive aging and contextual factors, focuses on skills and compensatory behavior, and incorporates group discussion. The intervention reduced negative emotional reactions towards cognitive functioning in a controlled study in healthy women aged 60 to 75 years. Its background and content are described in detail to enable replication and large-scale implementation. Therefore, a process evaluation was carried out. The results support participants' appreciation and point to better self-evaluations after intervention. This intervention may offer a valuable contribution to public health care for older adults. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

In this experimental study, effects of age and education on switching focal attention in working memory were investigated among 44 young (20-30 years) and 40 middle-aged individuals (50-60 years). To this end, a numeric n-back task comprising two lag conditions (1- and 2-back) was administered within groups. The results revealed a comparable increase of reaction time as a function of lag across age groups, but a disproportionate decrease of accuracy in the middle-aged relative to the young group. The latter effect did not interact with education, which challenges the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Moreover, the high-educated middle-aged participants showed a greater increase of reaction time as a function of lag than their low-educated counterparts. Apparently, they were not able to sustain their relatively high response speed across conditions. These results suggest that education does not protect against age-related decline of switching focal attention in working memory.

According to the skill transfer concept, people may use general technological skills to solve new problems. To test this concept, a technological transfer test was included in a randomized controlled-intervention study aimed at the causal relationship between computer use and autonomy of older adults. Older adults with and without exposure to computer training and Internet use and participants without interest in computers were administered this test. On two occasions, participants performed four daily tasks with everyday technological devices. Exposure to a novel technological challenge did not affect the efficiency of, and involvement in, other technological activities. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

Public education about memory was evaluated with a controlled intervention trial. Participants in group 1 (n = 273) attended a symposium covering memory-related topics and received a magazine with identical information. Group 2 (n = 141) only received the magazine. Participants were nonprofessionals and professionals aged between 29 and 88. Outcome measures were knowledge about memory and subjective experience. For nonprofessionals, knowledge increment was higher in group 1 than in group 2, indicating that an objective increment in knowledge is present in nonprofessionals after attending the symposium. No knowledge change occurred in professionals. Furthermore, participants were very satisfied after both interventions, even when knowledge transfer was limited. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

The Stroop Color-Word Test was administered to 1,856 cognitively screened, healthy Dutch-speaking participants aged 24 to 81 years. The effects of age, gender, and education on Stroop test performance were investigated to adequately stratify the normative data. The results showed that especially the speed-dependent Stroop scores (time to complete a subtest), rather than the accuracy measures (the errors made per Stroop subtask), were profoundly affected by the demographic variables. In addition to the main effects of the demographic variables, an Age x Low Level of Education interaction was found for the Error III and the Stroop Interference scores. This suggests that executive function, as measured by the Stroop test, declines with age and that the decline is more pronounced in people with a low level of education. This is consistent with the reserve hypothesis of brain aging (i.e., that education generates reserve capacity against the damaging effects of aging on brain functions). Normative Stroop data were established using both a regression-based and traditional approach, and the appropriateness of both methods for generating normative data is discussed. (Contains 10 tables, 2 figures, and 2 notes.)