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1. Impact of acculturation on math achievement in community college students

   Halverson, K.; Cirino, P.T.; Bick, J.; Medina, L. (February 2022, Ineternational Neuropsychological Society)

   Objective We live in an increasingly multicultural society which is reflected in the student population. In the community college (CC) setting, students from underrepresented groups are over-represented in remedial math courses and are less likely to complete the sequence. The extant literature suggests higher levels of acculturation, both cultural adoption and cultural maintenance, support academic success. Working memory (WM) is a well-known domain-general predictor of mathematical development and has been shown to relate to math achievement r = .38. Given this moderate relation, additional predictors of math achievement warrant investigation. In the present study, we investigated the potential moderational role of acculturation (cultural adoption and maintenance), on the WM-math relation in a diverse group of CC students (n = 94). Math was assessed both by a standardized measure of math computation and a measure of “everyday math” word problems including medical and financial management. We expected that higher levels of acculturation (adoption and maintenance) would decreasing WM load (via cognitive load) and aid math performance. At higher levels of acculturation, the WM-math relation was hypothesized approximate meta analytic findings, r = .38. Alternatively, at low levels of acculturation, the WM-math correlation was anticipated to be attenuated due to the added variability in culture and the negative impact low acculturation levels have on WM by increasing cognitive load. Participants and Methods A diverse sample of CC students (ages 18-25) who were enrolled in a math course were included. Participants completed an online survey covering demographic and cultural domains, then completed an in-person cognitive testing session to assess language abilities, WM, and math ability. Bivariate correlations and regression based moderation analyses were used. Post-hoc analyses were conducted to assess for three-way interactions with baseline verbal or math abilities. Results WM-math correlations averaged r = .38. Acculturation did not significantly relate to either outcome variable. Neither cultural adoption (computations: F=1.68, p =.199; word problems: F=.42, p =.521 ) nor cultural maintenance (computations: F=.83, p = .364; word problems: F=.36, p = .550) moderated the WM-math relations. Post-hoc analyses revealed significant three-way interactions between cultural adoption and math computation across different levels of vocabulary (F=4.66, p = .034) and math abilities (F= 6.16 p = .015). Conclusion The hypothesized moderational role of acculturation on the WM-math relation was not supported. Post-hoc analyses, however, revealed that the cultural adoption-math relationship varied across different levels of vocabulary and math abilities, although not in the direction anticipated. Finding suggest complex relationships between the WM, acculturation, and math such that acculturation does impact math performance when either vocabulary or math abilities are strong. At low levels of math or vocabulary, students’ WM may already be overtaxed, such that higher acculturation levels cannot benefit the student. Whereas when baseline abilities are average/high, increased cultural adoption can benefit the student by potentially decreasing cognitive load and freeing additional WM capacity which can be applied to the task. Findings could identify patterns of students at risk for math failure and inform future intervention/policy development to address their needs and support success. 

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2. Lower SES PhD students experience interpersonal disconnection from others both inside and outside of academia

   https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12556  

   Park, Hyun_Joon; Ruberton, Peter_M; Smyth, Joshua_M; Cohen, Geoffrey_L; Purdie‐Greenaway, Valerie; Cook, Jonathan_E (September 2022, Journal of Social Issues)

   Abstract Students from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds can experience stigma in undergraduate educational settings but little research on this topic has been conducted at the PhD level. Lower‐SES PhD students may feel lower levels of social integration as they experience incidents of interpersonal disconnection from others inside and outside of academia. Interpersonal disconnection may be a mechanism by which lower‐SES leads to a lower sense of social integration. In this prospective study of first‐year PhD students at three North American universities (N = 608), we assessed students’ perceived social integration and their interpersonal perceptions inside and outside of academia 2–8 times throughout their first year of graduate school. Relative to higher‐SES students, lower‐SES students perceived lower levels of social integration. They had difficulty making academic friends, felt dissimilar to their academic peers, and perceived a lack of understanding about their work in graduate school from non‐academic families and friends. They also lost non‐academic social ties. These interpersonal disconnections prospectively mediated the association between lower SES and lower levels of perceived social integration. Lower‐SES PhD students are at risk of impaired interpersonal relationships. Institutional policies to promote social connections among PhD students may help lower‐SES students integrate into academia. 

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3. Response time on math skills and its association with math skills accuracy and physics course grades

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.21.010144  

   Moni_Prakash, Harish; Heckler, Andrew F (April 2025, Physical Review Physics Education Research)

   Accuracy on assessments is commonly studied in education research but response time (RT) is relatively less investigated even though decades of research in cognitive sciences indicate that time can be an important dimension for understanding student learning. To better understand RT and the potentially important relations between accuracy and RT in physics education, we conducted an exploratory investigation by collecting and analyzing both accuracy and RT data on physics-relevant math skills on low-stakes pre and posttests as well as course exam scores in algebra-based and calculus-based introductory physics courses over two semesters for a total of $N=1936$participants. Overall, we found a high level of variation in response times revealing weak but consistent patterns of associations between RT and accuracy on skills and exam scores. First, we found a nonlinear relationship between RT and accuracy on the pretest and on the post-test, which may indicate a variety of strategies and engagement among students on these participation-credit-only tests. Second, the results indicate that while RT alone does not predict course grade, when controlling for accuracy on pre or posttest math skills, students with lower RT on these skills are more likely to get better grades. Therefore, both pre or posttest accuracy and speed predicted course grades, though accuracy explained a substantial amount of variance ( $\sim 35\%$) while pretest RT explained a much smaller amount of variance ( $\sim 1\%$). Third, controlling for both pretest accuracy and pretest RT, we found that students who sped up from pre to posttest were likely to get higher exam scores; however, students who slowed down were on average likely to have a higher post-test score. Fourth, since systemic inequities in STEM education have been documented via measured mean differences between some demographic groups for exam scores and accuracy on math skills, we compared RTs by sex, race, first-generation status, and citizenship to potentially gain more insight into these inequities. We found no consistent or conclusive evidence of demographic differences, though in multiple comparisons, Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander students had larger RTs on average, and in one comparison they were slightly faster. We found that RT was not a mediator of demographic differences in physics grades, though, as expected, accuracy on math skills was a mediator. We briefly discuss how our results relate to various cognitive models such as cognitive ability, speed-accuracy trade-offs, fluency and cognitive load, dual-process theories, and student psychological factors like self-efficacy, anxiety, and motivation. We argue that, based on which (if any) of the above mechanisms are at play, valuing speed in physics may have benefits, such as improving fluency to reduce cognitive load and drawbacks, such as unintentionally using speed as a proxy for achievement or inducing excessive stress that may interfere with performance and student well-being. 

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4. Predictors of Effective Working Memory Training in Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorders

   https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13892  

   Gunn, Rachel L.; Gerst, Kyle R.; Wiemers, Elizabeth A.; Redick, Thomas S.; Finn, Peter R. (October 2018, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research)

   BackgroundLow working memory (WM) capacity is associated with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The importance of WM to adaptive functioning has led to a recent influx of studies attempting to improve individual WM capacity using various cognitive training methods. The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of complex WM training for improving WM capacity among individuals with AUD. MethodsIndividuals were randomized to complete either adaptive WM training or active control training. We applied a methodologically rigorous and structured approach, including a battery of near and moderate transfer measures in those with AUDs and a control group. Additionally, we examined cognitive factors (at baseline) and other predictors of adherence, training task improvement, and transfer. ResultsResults suggest improved WM in individuals with AUDs and controls, as evidenced by improved scores on several transfer measures, after adaptive WM training. However, individuals with AUDs showed poorer adherence and less improvement on the training tasks themselves. Neither IQ, WM, sex, nor condition predicted adherence. Level of training task performance, baseline WM, and IQ predicted transfer task improvement. ConclusionsThis is the first study to rigorously examine both the efficacy of WM training in those with AUDs, and predictors of successful training program adherence and transfer in a large sample. Among study completers, results suggest that AUD status does not predict training improvement and transfer. However, AUD status did predict lower program adherence. WM training was more effective in those with higher cognitive ability at baseline. This study provides direct translation to the development of cognitive interventions for treating AUD. 

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5. Math challenges, strengths and achievement: Towards a theory of strain-induced performance-perception misalignment for racially marginalized students

   https://doi.org/1072-8325/21  

   Williams, Krystal L.; Davis, Sarah Chavada (January 2021, Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering)

   In the midst of an expanding knowledge-based economy, there remains a policy emphasis on increasing the number of professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) within the United States. In addition to a general interest in increasing STEM pathways for all students, there have been concentrated efforts to expand opportunities and STEM-related academic achievement for Black and Latinx students because of their underrepresentation in many of these fields. This critical quantitative study employs large-scale national data to examine an important outcome for Black and Latinx students’ STEM academic trajectories—their math achievement during high school. A strength-based role strain and adaptation approach is employed to investigate how students’ math challenges and math-related multilevel strengths (i.e., positive psychological attributes and social supports) combine to influence their math achievement. Furthermore, we examine how the relationship between students’ strengths and achievement may be moderated by their prior math challenges. The findings suggest that some aspects of Black and Latinx students’ strengths (e.g., math identity, math self-efficacy, and math-related social support) are positively related to their achievement; however, in some instances, the nature of these relationships may differ according to students’ prior math challenges. Based upon these findings, the authors advance a theory of strain-induced performance–perception misalignment that emphasizes how students’ prior math challenges may create a barrier to the potential benefits of positive math-related psychological orientations. Implications for the following are discussed: theory; educational practice regarding social supports and the need to change educators’ psychological dispositions; and opportunity gaps and STEM education policy. 

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