Scerif, G. orcid.org/0000-0002-6371-8875, Blakey, E. orcid.org/0000-0003-3685-3649, Gattas, S. et al. (5 more authors) (2023) Making the executive ‘function’ for the foundations of mathematics: the need for explicit theories of change for early interventions. Educational Psychology Review, 35 (4). 110. ISSN 1040-726X
Abstract
A vast body of work highlights executive functions (EFs) as robust correlates of mathematics achievement over the primary and preschool years. Yet, despite such correlational evidence, there is limited evidence that EF interventions yield improvements in early years mathematics. As intervention studies are a powerful tool to move beyond correlation to causality, failures of transfer from executive functions interventions are, we argue, highly problematic for both applied and theoretical reasons. We review the existing correlational and intervention literature at complementary neuroscientific, cognitive, developmental and educational levels. We appraise distinct theories of change underpinning the correlations between EF and early mathematics, as well as explicit or implicit theories of change for different types of EF interventions. We find that isolated EF interventions are less likely to transfer to improvements in mathematics than integrated interventions. Via this conceptual piece, we highlight that the field of EF development is in need of (1) a clearer framework for the mechanisms underpinning the relationships between early EF and other developing domains, such as mathematical cognition; (2) clearer putative theories of change for how interventions of different kinds operate in the context of EF and such domains; (3) and greater clarity on the developmental and educational contexts that influence these causal associations. Our synthesis of the evidence emphasises the need to consider the dynamic development of EFs with co-developing cognitive functions, such as early math skills, when designing education environments.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Executive functions; Mathematics; Early intervention; Causal hypotheses; Theories of change |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EDUCATION ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION UNSPECIFIED |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 22 Nov 2023 17:21 |
Last Modified: | 22 Nov 2023 17:21 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s10648-023-09824-3 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:205546 |