Abstract

Despite evidence for the involvement of working memory in mathematics attainment, the understanding of its components relationship to individual areas of mathematics is somewhat restricted. This study aims to better understand this relationship. Two-hundred and fourteen year 3 children in the UK were administered tests of verbal and visuospatial working memory, followed by a standardised mathematics test. Confirmatory factor analyses and variance partitioning were then performed on the data to identify the unique variance accounted for by verbal and visuospatial working memory measures for each component of mathematics assessed. Results revealed contrasting patterns between components, with those typically visual components demonstrating a larger proportion of unique variance explained by visuospatial measures. This pattern reveals a level of specificity with regard to the component of working memory engaged depending on the component of mathematics being assessed. Implications for educators and further research are discussed.

摘要

尽管有证据表明工作记忆参与数学学习，但对其组成部分与数学各个领域的关系的理解在某种程度上受到限制。本研究旨在更好地理解这种关系。英国 214 名 3 岁儿童接受了语言和视觉空间工作记忆测试，然后是标准化的数学测试。然后对数据进行验证性因素分析和方差划分，以确定评估的每个数学组成部分的语言和视觉空间工作记忆测量所解释的独特方差。结果揭示了组件之间的对比模式，那些典型的视觉组件展示了更大比例的由视觉空间测量解释的独特方差。这种模式揭示了根据所评估的数学组成部分参与的工作记忆组成部分的特异性水平。讨论了对教育者和进一步研究的影响。