To determine their academic strengths and weaknesses, students compare their own performance across domains (e.g., math vs. English), a process referred to as dimensional comparisons. For example, individuals' higher-scoring English performance may negatively affect their math motivational beliefs (competence self-concepts and intrinsic values), resulting in favoritism toward English. Students' motivation can also be affected by praise from adults. However, praise in one domain (e.g., English) may have unexpected negative effects on motivation in the contrasting domain (e.g., math) through dimensional comparisons. We experimentally investigated the impact of receiving praise in only one domain on students' domain-specific motivational beliefs. We hypothesized that students would have higher motivational beliefs in the praised domain and lower motivational beliefs in the nonpraised domain compared with students who received no praise. Seventh- to ninth-graders (10- to 15-year-olds; N = 108; 46 girls; 92 living in the United States; 84.8% White, 2.9% Asian or Asian American, 2.9% Black or African American, 9.5% multiple races; parents' education range: 13-18 years) showed heightened verbal competence self-concepts after receiving praise on either verbal or math performance. College students (first to fifth year; N = 109; 89 women; 105 living in the United States; 58.9% White, 21.5% Asian or Asian American, 10.3% Black or African American, 5.6% multiple races, 3.7% other races) showed higher verbal intrinsic values after receiving praise on verbal performance. Results supported positive effects of praise in the verbal domain only and were inconsistent with the predicted negative effects on the non-praised domain. We suggest that students' verbal motivational beliefs are more malleable than math beliefs when receiving disproportionate praise. (c) 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

In this review, we propose that fiber arts - a wide array of practices that use string, yarn, and fabric to create functional and fine art textiles - present a novel avenue to both explore basic science questions about spatial skills and to design interventions that help children learn spatial skills. First, we outline how fiber arts are applicable to existing theoretical frameworks that aim to organize our understanding of spatial skills and highlight how fiber arts may be particularly relevant for understanding critically understudied non-rigid spatial skills. Next, we review the environmental factors that influence spatial skill development. In the third section of the paper, we review the literature on gender differences in spatial skill performance, as well as intervention approaches that have been taken to close gender gaps. Fourth, we outline how motivational features of fiber arts, specifically the roles of individual choice in goal-setting, and growth-mindset-consistent messages in fiber arts contexts, could contribute to spatial learning. Finally, we suggest several avenues for future research, including leveraging fiber arts materials and techniques to investigate non-rigid mental transformation skills, and designing gender-inclusive fiber-arts-based spatial skills interventions that maintain the motivationally relevant features of fiber arts practices and contexts.

Verbal labels for math concepts influence multiple aspects of math learning. In this study, we examined the influence of point labels (e.g., 0.42 as point four two), decomposed labels (e.g., four tenths and two hun-dredths), and common-unit labels (e.g., forty-two hundredths) on children's processing and representation of decimal magnitudes. We randomly assigned 162 5th-and 6th-graders to briefly learn decomposed, common-unit, or point labels. Children then completed measures of decimal magnitude processing and representation. We found that the place-value labels (i.e., decomposed and common-unit labels) each showed unique advantages in reducing the whole-number bias, and common-unit labels also reduced componential processing. No difference was found in the ratio effect - which served as an index of the precision of decimal magnitude representation -among children from the three conditions. These findings add to our understanding of the role of verbal labels in math learning and have important implications for instructional practices.

Children's beliefs about the contribution of effort and ability to success and failure shape their decisions to persist or give up on challenging tasks, with consequences for their academic success. But how do children learn about the concept of challenge? Prior work has shown that parents' verbal responses to success and failure shape children's motivational beliefs. In this study, we explore another type of talk-parent and child talk about difficulty-which could contribute to children's motivational beliefs. We performed secondary analyses of two observational studies of parent-child interactions in the United States (Boston and Philadelphia) from age 3 to fourth grade (Study 1, 51% girls, 65.5% White, at least 43.2% below Federal poverty line) and at first grade (Study 2, 54% girls, 72% White, family income-to-needs ratio M [SD] = 4.41 [2.95]) to identify talk about difficulty, characterize the content of those statements, and assess whether task context, child and parent gender, child age, and other parent motivational talk were associated with the quantity of child and parent difficulty talk. We found that many families did discuss difficulty, with variation among families. Parents and children tended to use general statements to talk about difficulty (e.g., That was hard!), and task context affected child and parent difficulty talk. In the NICHD-SECCYD dataset, mothers' highlighting how task features contributed to task difficulty was positively correlated with their process praise, suggesting that this talk could be motivationally relevant.

Despite some gains, women continue to be underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Using a national longitudinal dataset of 690 participants born in 1991, we tested whether spatial skills, measured in middle childhood, would help explain this gender gap. We modeled the relation between 4th-grade spatial skills and STEM majors while simultaneously accounting for competing cognitive and motivational mechanisms. Strong spatial skills in 4th grade directly increased the likelihood of choosing STEM college majors, above and beyond math achievement and motivation, verbal achievement and motivation, and family background. Additionally, 4th-grade spatial skills indirectly predicted STEM major choice via math achievement and motivation in the intervening years. Further, our findings suggest that gender differences in 4th-grade spatial skills contribute to women's underrepresentation in STEM majors. Research Highlights Using a national longitudinal dataset, we found 4th-grade spatial skills directly predicted STEM college major choice after accounting for multiple cognitive and motivational mechanisms. Strong spatial skills in 4th grade also elevated STEM major choice via enhanced math achievement and motivation in the intervening years. Gender differences in 4th-grade spatial skills contributed to women's underrepresentation in STEM college majors.

Prior research has shown that the home learning environment (HLE) is critical in the development of spatial skills and that various parental beliefs influence the HLE. However, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of different parental beliefs on the spatial HLE remains lacking, leaving unanswered questions about which specific parental beliefs are most influential and whether inducing a growth mindset can enhance the spatial HLE. To address these gaps, we conducted an online study with parents of 3- to 5-year-olds. We found that parents' growth mindset about their children's ability strongly predicted the spatial HLE after controlling for parents' motivational beliefs about their children, beliefs about their own ability, children's age, children's gender, and family SES. Further, reading an article about growth mindset led parents to choose more challenging spatial learning activities for their children. These findings highlight the critical role of parents' growth mindset in the spatial HLE. Crucially, these findings demonstrate that general growth mindset messages without specific suggestions for parental practices can influence parental behavior intentions. Further, these effects were also observed in the control domain of literacy, underscoring the broad relevance of the growth mindset in the HLE.

Parents provide motivational and cognitive support within the same interaction, yet researchers have investigated these separately. We examined two key aspects of parental support, praise (motivational support) and spatial language (cognitive support), from fathers and mothers during three tasks with their first-grade children (6-7-year-olds; N = 107; 56 girls; 72.0% White, 23.4% Black). Parents' praise and spatial language varied by task but not child sex: Both parents produced more praise in the Etch-a-Sketch and block tasks than the card game and produced more spatial language in the Etch-a-Sketch task than other tasks. We further examined whether praise and spatial language in the two spatial tasks (Etch-a-Sketch and block construction) were related to children's later math and spatial skills. We found neither additive nor multiplicative effects of parents' praise or spatial language. We also did not see additive or multiplicative effects of fathers' and mothers' support. However, fathers' greater spatial language at first grade was negatively associated with boys' (but not girls') math achievement in third grade, with greater father spatial tokens related to their sons' lower math achievement. This suggests that boys may perceive fathers' support more negatively than girls do or that fathers may offer additional support for boys with lower abilities. Taken together, this study emphasizes the importance of considering contexts in examining parental support. The correlational nature of the study warrants future research to establish causal relations and to enhance our understanding of multifaceted parent-child interactions.

Number lines and area models are both used pervasively in teaching fractions. Prior studies found that second and third graders demonstrated better magnitude knowledge of proper fractions after a 15-minute training using the number line as compared to using the area model. The current study aimed to extend these findings to improper fractions. We randomly assigned fourth and fifth graders to a number line training, an area model training, or a non-numerical control condition. The number line and area model trainings involved both proper and improper fractions and were closely modeled on the training procedures in prior studies. Fraction training with the area model produced improvements in children's area model estimation of proper and improper fractions. However, contrary to our expectations, training with the number line did not improve number line estimation, and neither training led to improvements in transfer tasks assessing fraction magnitude knowledge. These findings suggest that children can develop the skill to represent improper fractions on area models with brief training. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether this skill enhances a comprehensive understanding of fraction magnitudes.