The acquisition of domain-specific number knowledge and domain-general cognitive processes, including working memory, have shown to contribute to math learning and achievement. Correlational work has emphasized a reciprocal relationship between these processes; however, little is known about their relative and causal contributions to math learning. Here, we test the individual and additive benefits of playing tablet-based games targeting domain-specific and domain-general skills to improve mathematical knowledge and working memory in a diverse population of kindergarten children (N = 235, 50 % female, 45 % Hispanic/Latino, 35 % African American/Black, 21 % White, 6 % biracial/mixed race, 51 % annual household income less than $30,000). Our results provide causal evidence for the reciprocal relations between numerical knowledge and working memory. Specifically, we found that playing a working memory game led to improvements in mathematical knowledge as compared to an active control and after taking into account baseline performance. Importantly, we also found that children who played both a working memory game and a numerical knowledge game showed the most pronounced and sustained benefits in mathematical knowledge, with benefits remaining present several weeks after intervention completion. Our findings illustrate the importance of targeting both domain-general and domain-specific skills in order to maximize the benefits of interventions to improve mathematical knowledge. Yet, given the inconsistent results across various studies, we argue that it is critical to further investigate underlying mechanisms and training features, as even subtle variations seem to dramatically affect training outcomes.

Young children vary widely in their levels of math knowledge, their abilities to solve math problems, and the strategies they use to solve math problems. As much of later math builds on children’s early understanding of basic math facts and problem-solving strategies, understanding influences on children’s early problem solving is important. Few studies, however, have examined the home environment in relation to children’s strategy use during arithmetic problems. We examined how both structural characteristics of children’s home environments, such as socioeconomic status (SES), as well as the learning environment, such as engagement in math and literacy activities at home, related to their use of problem-solving strategies for numerical addition problems. Kindergarten children from diverse backgrounds completed a measure of addition problem solving and strategy use, including simple and complex numerical problems. Strategies were coded based on a combination of accuracy and strategy sophistication, with higher scores indicating problems solved correctly with more sophisticated strategies. Parents completed a home activities questionnaire, reporting the frequency with which they and their child had engaged in math and literacy activities at home over the past month. An exploratory factor analysis identified three components of the home activities - a basic activities factor, an advanced math activities factor, and a literacy activities factor. Findings indicated that SES related to children’s strategy sophistication, and frequency of engaging in advanced math and literacy activities at home predicted strategy sophistication, however, engaging in activities at home did not moderate the relations between SES and strategy sophistication. This suggests that family engagement in activities at home may promote early arithmetic skills, and that the role of home environmental characteristics should be considered in children’s arithmetic strategy use and performance over development. Copyright © 2023 DePascale, Jaeggi and Ramani.

Sources that contribute to variation in mathematical achievement include both numerical knowledge and general underlying cognitive processing abilities. The current study tested the benefits of tablet-based training games that targeted each of these areas for improving the mathematical knowledge of kindergarten-age children. We hypothesized that playing a number-based game targeting numerical magnitude knowledge would improve children's broader numerical skills. We also hypothesized that the benefits of playing a working memory (WM) game would transfer to children's numerical knowledge given its important underlying role in mathematics achievement. Kindergarteners from diverse backgrounds (n = 148; 52% girls; M-age = 71.87 months) were randomly assigned to either play a number-based game, a WM game, or a control game on a tablet for 10 sessions. Structural equation modeling was used to model children's learning gains in mathematics and WM across time. Overall, our results suggest that playing the number game improved kindergarten children's numerical knowledge at the latent level, and these improvements remained stable as assessed 1 month later. However, children in the WM group did not improve their numerical knowledge compared to children in the control condition. Playing both the number game and WM game improved children's WM at the latent level. Importantly, the WM group continued to improve their WM for at least a month after playing the games. The results demonstrate that computerized games that target both domain-specific and domain-general skills can benefit a broad range of kindergarten-aged children.