Colleen M. Ganley

• PhD
• Professor at Florida State University

Although there is an extensive amount of research that examines the relation between math anxiety and math performance in adolescents and adults, little work has focused on this relation in young children. Recently more attention has been paid to the early development of math anxiety, and new measures have been created for use with this age group....

Past research indicates that teacher math anxiety is related to student outcomes and can be decreased through intervention. However, there is little research on this topic, partially due to a lack of math anxiety measures validated for use with practicing teachers. In this study of 399 elementary school teachers, we report on the construct validati...

This study examines young children's career aspirations, gender differences in those aspirations, and children's perceptions of the amount of math and science used in careers. We asked 1634 students in first to third grades what job they wanted in the future and how much they thought they would use math or science in it. Career aspirations were sor...

Children's growth and fixed intelligence mindsets in mathematics are noted as important sources of mathematics motivation and achievement. Nuanced beliefs about the malleability of mathematics intelligence that lie between fixed and growth mindsets may also be important to consider for children's mathematics learning, yet little is known about whet...

Spatial skills are key predictors of achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, despite being acquired through everyday life and not formally taught in schools. Spatial skills include a diverse group of abilities broadly related to reasoning about properties of space such as distance and direction. Recently, more...

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a historic event impacting children around the globe. Prior research on the educational experiences of children during the COVID-19 pandemic focused almost exclusively on spring 2020. This article extends this literature past the initial shock of spring 2020, capturing the first full school year (...

The COVID-19 pandemic is a historic event impacting children around the globe. Prior research on the educational experiences of children during the COVID-19 pandemic focused almost exclusively on spring 2020. This paper extends this literature past the initial shock of spring 2020, capturing the first full school year (2020-2021) during the COVID-1...

This study explored the generality versus specificity of two trait-liability factors for externalizing problems-disinhibition and callousness-in the concurrent and prospective prediction of symptoms of conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and substance use (i.e., alcohol use disorder and history of illicit substance us...

Low resting heart rate (HR) is a known risk indicator for the development of antisocial behavior (ASB) and other clinical problems. Stimulation seeking and fearlessness have been explored as factors underlying the HR/ASB relationship, but these have often been conflated, which has complicated interpretation. We examined HR’s associations with ASB a...

Tarampi and colleagues (2016) found that females performed better on spatial perspective-taking tasks when social information was present. They interpreted this finding to suggest that adding social information would uniquely improve the performance of females due to their better social perspective taking. In this replication and extension study, w...

Much recent research has focused on the relation between spatial skills and mathematical skills, which has resulted in widely reported links between these two skill sets. However, the magnitude of this relation is unclear. Furthermore, it is of interest whether this relation differs in size based on key demographic variables, such as gender and gra...

There are extensive controversies about: (1) whether any gender differences in math exist, (2) what factors might contribute to any gender differences, and (3) whether gender differences in abilities and attitudes are likely to impact the substantially smaller number of women in math intensive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM...

Research suggests that math and test anxiety have detrimental impacts on performance in math. To prevent these effects, a number of interventions have been developed, but these interventions have not been extensively tested. In the current study, we examine whether four brief anxiety interventions reduce state anxiety and/or increase math performan...

The appropriate order of measure presentation when testing relationships between math anxiety and performance has not been tested empirically. In the current study, 480 university students were randomly presented or not presented with math anxiety questions at multiple testing stages (pretest [state & trait], midtest [state], and posttest [state])....

Despite progress toward gender equity, troubling disparities in mathematical problem-solving performance and related outcomes persist. To investigate why, we build on recurrent findings in previous studies to introduce a new construct, “bold problem solving,” which involves approaching mathematics problems in inventive ways. We introduce a self-rep...

Meta-analyses from the 1990s have previously established a significant, small-to-moderate, and negative correlation between math achievement and math anxiety. Since these publications, research has continued to investigate this relation with more diverse samples and measures. Thus, the goal of the present meta-analysis was to provide an update of t...

Meta-analyses from the 1990s previously have established a significant, small-to-moderate, and negative correlation between math achievement and math anxiety. Since these publications, research has continued to investigate this relation with more diverse samples and measures. Thus, the goal of the present meta-analysis was to provide an update of t...

A growing body of evidence suggests that the ways in which parents and preschool children interact in terms of home-based mathematics activities (i.e., the home mathematics environment; HME) is related to children’s mathematics development (e.g., primarily numeracy skills and spatial skills); however, this body of evidence is mixed with some resear...

The National Project on Achievement in Twins (NatPAT) began in 2017 as part of the third funding cycle of the Florida Learning Disabilities Research Center, a program project grant funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development. NatPAT will have a nationally representative sample of elementary school-aged tw...

It is important to understand the nature of math anxiety in the general adult population, as the importance of math skills does not end when one leaves school. To this end, we present a well-powered, preregistered study of English-speaking U.S. adults describing the nature of math anxiety in this population. 1000 participants were recruited online....

The Center for Open Science (COS) will create an ECR Data Resource Hub to facilitate rigorous and reproducible research practices such as data sharing and study registration. The Hub will integrate training materials, infrastructure, community engagement, and innovation in research to advance rigorous research skills and behavior across the STEM ed...

Parental beliefs about school involvement are key in predicting individual differences in children's academic success. The current study examined unique and interactive relations between parental beliefs and child inattention/hyperactivity symptoms in predicting children's achievement. Participants (N = 348) were caregivers of children aged 8–12. C...

Based on research identifying relations between math and music, we aimed to identify the group of cognitive and affective factors related to math and music theory that best explained undergraduate music theory achievement. Using dominance analysis, we predicted the music theory course grades of 230 undergraduate music majors. Potential predictors w...

Previous research has demonstrated a link between spatial and math skills. However, little research has examined this relation longitudinally. The present study examines the development of and reciprocal relations between spatial and math skills in elementary school students. We administered two spatial tasks and a math task to 312 first- through t...

It is important to understand the nature of math anxiety in the general adult population, as the importance of math skills does not end when one leaves school. To this end, we present a well-powered, preregistered study of English-speaking U.S. adults describing the nature of math anxiety in this population. 1000 participants were recruited online....

Women are underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and in some non-STEM majors (e.g., philosophy). Combining newly gathered data on students’ perceptions of college major traits with data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), we find that perceived gender bias against women emerges...

This paper is a guest editorial for a special section that forms the proceedings of the Shape of Educational Data meeting. This special section features papers that apply methods from multiple fields — including mathematics, computer science, educational psychology, and learning analytics — to describe and predict student learning in online platfor...

In this study, we explore student achievement in a semester-long flipped Calculus II course, combining various predictor measures related to student attitudes (math anxiety, math confidence, math interest, math importance) and cognitive skills (spatial skills, approximate number system), as well as student engagement with the online system (discuss...

There is a growing literature concerning the role of the home math environment in children’s math development. In this study, we examined the relation between these constructs by specifically addressing three goals. The first goal was to identify the measurement structure of the home math environment through a series of confirmatory factor analyses...

Mplus dat file for HNE factor modeling. (DAT)

Mplus dat file for SEM modeling. (DAT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_three factors. (TXT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_four factors. (TXT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_bifactor_HSEvsHNE. (TXT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_bifactor_three factors(reducedv2). (TXT)

Mplus code: Correlatedfactorsmodel_3factormodel. (TXT)

Mplus code: SEM_threefactors _HNEparentgender. (TXT)

Final complete raw data. (XLSX)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_two factor_HSEvsHNEN. (TXT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_bifactor_directvsindirect. (TXT)

Blank Questionnaire file. (DOCX)

Results from splitting ages into younger and older samples. (DOCX)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_one factor. (TXT)

Mplus code: SEM_threefactors_ HNEparentW. (TXT)

SAS code used to create S1 Data and run analyses presented in paper. (SAS)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_two factor_directvsindirect. (TXT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_bifactor_three factors. (TXT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_bifactor_three factors(reducedv1). (TXT)

Mplus code: SEM_threefactors_ HNEincome. (TXT)

Mplus code: HNE factor model_bifactor_three factors(reducedv3). (TXT)

Mplus code: SEM_threefactors_HNEmathanxiety. (TXT)

Mplus code: SEM_threefactors_ fullfinalmodel. (TXT)

The current study investigated the relations between the three cognitive processes that comprise executive functioning (EF)-response inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility-and individual components of mathematics and literacy skills in preschool children. Participants were 125 preschool children ranging in age from 3.12 to 5.26years...

With data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999, this study explores gender-related patterns in math attitudes and achievement. Following 7040 students from 3rd to 8th grades, we examined gender differences in math confidence, interest, and performance and examined relations among these variables over time. Re...

Children’s early mathematics skills develop in a cumulative fashion; foundational skills form a basis for the acquisition of later skills. However, non-mathematical factors such as working memory and language skills have also been linked to mathematical development at a broad level. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted to evaluate the...

Our target article (Robinson-Cimpian, Lubienski, Ganley, & Copur-Gencturk, 2014) used nationally representative data to examine the development of gender gaps in math achievement. We found that when boys and girls demonstrate equivalent math test performance and are perceived by their teachers to be equally well behaved and engaged with the materia...

Gaining an accurate understanding of variables is one challenge many students face when learning algebra. Prior research has shown that a significant number of students hold misconceptions about variables and that misconceptions impede learning. Yet, teachers do not have access to diagnostic tools that can help them determine the misconceptions abo...

Prior research has demonstrated a male advantage in spatial skills and science achievement. The present research integrated these findings by testing the potential role of spatial skills in gender differences in the science performance of eighth-grade students (13-15 years old). In (N = 113), the findings showed that mental rotation ability mediate...

A recent wave of research suggests that teachers overrate the performance of girls relative to boys and hold more positive attitudes toward girls' mathematics abilities. However, these prior estimates of teachers' supposed female bias are potentially misleading because these estimates (and teachers themselves) confound achievement with teachers' pe...

This research examined a potential mechanism underlying gender differences in math performance by testing a mediation model in which women’s higher anxiety taxes their working memory resources, leading to underperformance on a mathematics test. Participants for the 2 studies were college students (N = 87, N = 118) who completed an anxiety measure,...

Amid debates about the continued salience of gender in mathematics, this report summarizes an IES-funded investigation of gender-related patterns in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K). Girls' and boys' mathematics achievement, confidence, and interest were examined, along with experiences at home and schoo...

Instructors (N = 204) of elementary mathematics methods courses completed a survey assessing the extent to which they value cognitive research and incorporate it into their courses. Instructors' responses indicated that they view cognitive research to be fairly important for mathematics education, particularly studies of domain‐specific topics, and...

Stereotype threat has been proposed as 1 potential explanation for the gender difference in standardized mathematics test performance among high-performing students. At present, it is not entirely clear how susceptibility to stereotype threat develops, as empirical evidence for stereotype threat effects across the school years is inconsistent. In a...

This study explores changes in students’ strategies as they solve different types of volume problems. Fifth graders were presented with pictures showing 3D objects and a unit cube; they determined how many cubes made up the object and explained their responses. We examined whether children transferred strategies across problem types, varying in ter...

Sex differences have been previously found in cognitive and affective predictors of math achievement, including spatial skills and math attitudes. It is important to determine whether there are sex differences not only in the predictors themselves, but also in the nature of their relation to math achievement. The present paper examined spatial skil...

Spatial reasoning and numerical predictors of measurement performance were investigated in 4th graders from low-income and affluent communities. Predictors of 2 subtypes of measurement performance (spatial–conceptual and formula based) were assessed while controlling for verbal and spatial working memory. Consistent with prior findings, students fr...

In this research, we examined overall performance and gender differences in measurement skills in elementary-school students from low-income families. In Study 1, accuracy and error patterns were analyzed in a large sample of fourth-graders; in Study 2 error patterns and strategy usage were examined with a smaller sample of fourth-graders. Study 1...