Task shifting in mathematical and French school acquisitions among primary school students

Abstract

Executive functions seem to be important in academic achievements. In particular, cognitive flexibility would play a role in mathematic, reading and writing skills. Nevertheless, the role of cognitive flexibility remains unclear. The aim of the study is to better understand the link between cognitive flexibility and academic performances, by examining the role of task shifting.
The participants are second- and third-grade students from North of France (N=64, 26 girls and 38 boys, aged from 85 months to 121 months, mean age = 104 months). We assessed mathematical and French achievements (vocabulary, words’ knowledge, orthography, conjugation, sentence analysis and function) with the Mathematic- and French-TAS (Test of School Acquisitions) during two separate school times. We examined cognitive flexibility (non-verbal) with the TMT (Trail Making Test) and cognitive efficiency with analogical matrices during individual sessions. Age, grade and cognitive efficiency were controlled in the main analyses. As the sex wasn’t link to any variables, we didn’t control it.
Results show a link between: 1) mathematical achievements and task shifting; 2) French achievements and task shifting; 3) mathematical and French achievements. The association between mathematical achievements and task shifting becomes insignificant when controlling for French achievements. Regression analyses show that French achievements totally mediated the link between mathematical achievements and task shifting. Although cognitive flexibility was found to contribute significantly to mathematical achievements, the data show that French achievements are major in accounting for mathematical performances in the grade school. Interestingly, the data also argue that cognitive flexibility doesn’t have to be domain specific to be involved in learning. While theses results could have implications in understanding learning difficulties, future research should examine if theses results remain the same in case of specific learning disabilities.

Keywords: academic learning; cognitive flexibility; primary school; shifting

Full text

Task switching in mathematical and
french achievements
Marie DANET, Bruno VILETTE & Aminata Dione
marie.danet@univ-lille3.fr

Executive functions
! Executive functions : ability to give an appropriate
response to perform unfamiliar tasks.
! Executive functions seem to be important in academic
achievements (Mazeau, 2006; Puech, 2014)
! Planification
! Inhibition
! Attention
! Cognitive flexibility
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Cognitive flexibility
! Cognitive flexibility : ability to
! address specific situations
! move from one idea to another
! take into account several solutions
! Cognitive flexibility would play a role in :
! mathematical skills (Agostino, Johnson, & Pascual-Leone, 2010)
! reading and writing skills (Altemeier, Abbott & Berninger, 2008)
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Aim of the study
! The role of cognitive flexibility remains unclear.
! The aim of the study was to better understand the link
between cognitive flexibility and academic
achievements, by examining the role of task switching.
! Task switching : ability to switch from a task to another.
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Population
! Second- and third-grade students from North of France
! N=64 : 26 girls and 38 boys
! Aged from 85 months to 121 months
! mean age = 104 months (sd = 54,73)
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Procedure
! Two separate school times :
! Mathematical achievements
! French achievements (vocabulary, spelling, grammar,
sentences analysis)
! Individual sessions :
! Cognitive flexibility (non-verbal)
! Cognitive efficiency
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Measures
! Mathematic-TAS (Test of School Acquisitions) (Lepez &
Riquier, 1993, revised 1997)
! 40 items
! Mathematical achievements
! 11 skills and numeric domains (i.e. whole number reading
and writing ; adding, subtracting and multiplying of two
numbers ; arithmetic problems solving ; …)
! Score : sum of correct answers (max.= 40)
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Measures
! French-TAS (Test of School Acquisitions) (Lepez & Riquier, 1993,
revised 1997)
! 75 items
! French achievements
! 5 subtests : vocabulary, words’ knowledge, orthography,
conjugation, sentence analysis and function)
! 6 scores : sum of correct answers
! Each subtest : max. = 15
! Total score : max. = 75
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Measures
! TMT (Trail Making Test) (Reitan, 1958)
! Cognitive flexibility, visual perception, attention
! TMT-A (time and error)
! TMT-B (time and error)
! Task-switching (difference between TMT-B and TMT-A time)
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Measures
! Analogical matrices
! Subtest of the Nemi-2 (Nouvelle Échelle Métrique de
l'Intelligence : Cognet, 2006)
! Abstract geometric shapes
! Cognitive efficiency: Fluid intelligence assessment
! Score : sum of correct answers (max.=30)
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Results
! Controlling for : Age, grade and cognitive efficiency
! Not controlling for : sex (no link with any variables)
Danet, Vilette & Dione
French-TAS Task switching
Math-TAS .61*** -.45***
French-TAS -.52***
*** p<.001

Results
! Controlling for : Age, grade and cognitive efficiency
! Not controlling for : sex (no link with any variables)
Danet, Vilette & Dione
French-TAS Task switching
Math-TAS .61*** -.45***
French-TAS -.52***
*** p<.001

Results
! Controlling for : Age, grade and cognitive efficiency
! Not controlling for : sex (no link with any variables)
Danet, Vilette & Dione
French-TAS Task switching
Math-TAS .61*** -.45***
French-TAS -.52***
*** p<.001

Results
! Controlling for : Age, grade and cognitive efficiency
! Not controlling for : sex (no link with any variables)
Danet, Vilette & Dione
French-TAS Task switching
Math-TAS .61*** -.45***
French-TAS -.52***
*** p<.001

Results
! Association between mathematical achievements and
task switching becomes insignificant when controlling by
French achievements.
r = -.19 (n.s)
! Association between French achievements and task
switching remains significant when controlling by
mathematical achievements.
r = -.35 (p < . 01)
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Results
Task switching Mathematical
achievements
French achievements
ß = -.15
ß = -.50*** ß =.51***

Discussion
! Cognitive flexibility was found to contribute significantly
to mathematical achievements.
! French learning is major in accounting for mathematical
performances in the grade school.
! Cognitive flexibility doesn’t have to be domain specific to
be involved in learning.
! Cognitive flexibility seems to be important in the handling
of verbal concepts.
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Discussion
! Verbal concepts seem to be important in the handling of
numeric concepts.
! A question remains : how can cognitive flexibility be
influenced ?
! One assumption could be that the attachment
representation to the parents, as a primary cognitive
representation, could have an impact on cognitive
flexibility (Danet, Miljkovitch & Sander, 2015)
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Perspectives
! Future research should address this question.
! Future research should examine if the results of the
present study remain the same in case of specific
learning disabilities.
! Future research should also replicate the results of the
present study by using an other measure of cognitive
flexibility and among a wider sample.
Danet, Vilette & Dione

Thanks for your attention
marie.danet@univ-lille3.fr
Danet, Vilette & Dione
Join me on Researchgate