MAGRID - FROM DEVELOPING A LANGUAGE-NEUTRAL LEARNING APPLICATION TO PREDICTIVE LEARNING ANALYTICS

Doctoral thesis (2020)

Mathematical proficiency serves as one of the foundations that must be solid if learners are to succeed in the classroom. However, the hierarchical nature of mathematical development means that basic math ... [more ▼]

Mathematical proficiency serves as one of the foundations that must be solid if learners are to succeed in the classroom. However, the hierarchical nature of mathematical development means that basic math skills must form the groundwork for subsequent mathematical constructs. As a matter of fact, a fragile mathematical foundation leads to some unavoidable roadblocks further ahead. That being said, early childhood education and the preschool years are highly foundational, and thus, it is crucial to train early mathematical abilities. If we bear in mind that teaching and testing in schools rely on communication between the teacher and learner, fluency in the language of instruction exerts a tangible influence on this process. Consequently, students who are not proficient in the language of instruction are set up to have a poor mathematical foundation that will likely hold them back in relation to their peers. This is a shortcoming that can drive a gap between learners within heterogeneous school settings, which becomes a hurdle for students and teachers alike. Because digital devices are now more available and present in today's classrooms, digital interventions (e.g., computer software and tablet applications) are one channel that can be used to bridge such a gap through the introduction of language-neutral training and testing programs. Students who are not pro ficient in the language of instruction would be enabled to acquire and maintain the mastery of early mathematical skills when the emphasis is placed on visual content rather than language skills in the teaching of mathematical concepts. Moreover, when digital devices are used as learning platforms, learners' interactions (behavior) with the training content can be recorded in log files. Analyzing the log data can provide teachers with detailed information on learners' progress, which may ultimately remove the necessity to administer tests and examinations. The present dissertation explores the extent of educational technologies in the teaching and testing of early math abilities. In this regard, we address two main areas of focus in research: The first one is to examine the possibility of developing a language-neutral application for learning mathematical abilities for young learners so that they do not need to depend on their language proficiency to acquire mathematical skills. Findings of empirical studies have demonstrated that students who participated in the early mathematics training program using the MaGrid application performed significantly better on various measures of early mathematical abilities. Therefore, the MaGrid application can provide an efficient way to reinforce the math knowledge of all preschoolers, including segments (second-language learners) that have traditionally been underserved. The second focus is on studying the possibility of inferring young learners level of mathematical competencies on the basis of their interactions in a learning platform. The idea behind analyzing log data of learners behavior was to evaluate the alternative approach (behavioral-based assessment) to formative assessment for measuring students improvements and competency levels. Along these lines, we derived system-specific behavioral indicators using the presented systematic approach, and then we evaluated the predictive power behind them. Findings illustrate that assessing learners' level of knowledge could be carried out through the analysis of traces students leave in an e-learning environment and without interrupting their learning process. Results further unveil how digital devices can be used in schools to enhance learning outcomes. [less ▲]

Overcoming language barriers in early mathematics instruction with “MaGrid” - a language-neutral training tool for multilingual school settings

Poster (2018, April 08)

Mathematical knowledge at the onset of formal schooling paves the way for children’s achievement in formal mathematics (e.g. Duncan et al., 2007; Watts et al., 2014). Hence, it is crucial to equip ... [more ▼]

Mathematical knowledge at the onset of formal schooling paves the way for children’s achievement in formal mathematics (e.g. Duncan et al., 2007; Watts et al., 2014). Hence, it is crucial to equip children with sound basic mathematical competencies by deploying effective teaching interventions during preschool years. However, multilingual school settings, such as Luxembourg (65% of the pupils are second language learners) pose a special challenge for instruction. Non-native pre-schoolers perform lower on early mathematics tests than their age-matched peers (Bonifacci et al., 2016; Kleemans et al., 2011). This gap is most likely due to missing out on learning opportunities, as a result of lower proficiency in the language of instruction. To provide equal access to early mathematics education for all children, we developed a language-neutral early mathematics training tool, the “MaGrid”-app. This innovative training tool has been evaluated, so far, in two studies in multilingual Luxembourg. In a first study, children from five classrooms (N = 68) used the tool to train visuo-spatial abilities, an important predictor of mathematical abilities (see e.g. Mix et al., 2016), over ten weeks (2x20min/week). At post-test, significant gains in the visuo-spatial domain were observed, compared to children from “teaching-as-usual” classrooms (N = 57). In a second study, we elaborated a comprehensive language-neutral early mathematics intervention, with “MaGrid” at its core. Findings from both training studies will be presented in detail and the importance of domain-specific versus domain-general precursors, as well as practical implications, will be discussed. [less ▲]

Training early visuo-spatial abilities: A controlled classroom-based intervention study.

in Applied Developmental Science (2017)

Visuo-spatial training can be considered as a promising approach to provide young children with a sound foundation for later mathematical learning. We developed and implemented a tablet-based visuo ... [more ▼]

Visuo-spatial training can be considered as a promising approach to provide young children with a sound foundation for later mathematical learning. We developed and implemented a tablet-based visuo-spatial intervention in kindergarten classrooms aiming to foster the development of children’s visuo-spatial and numerical abilities. A sample of N = 125 children participated in the present study, 68 children were part of the intervention group and participated in 20 training sessions of 20 minutes over a 10-week period, 57 children formed a business as usual control group. Results show that, at this young age, visuo-spatial and early math skills are already strongly interlinked. However, the training effects were domain-specific as they only improved visuo-spatial skills, but did not transfer to early math performance in the present setting. [less ▲]