Individual Differences in Executive Function and Learning: Role of Type of Knowledge and Instructional Approaches
2020-06
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Individual Differences in Executive Function and Learning: Role of Type of Knowledge and Instructional Approaches
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2020-06
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Executive function (EF) predicts children’s academic achievement; however, less is known about the relation between EF and the actual learning process. Furthermore, more research is needed to better understand how different aspects of the learning environment interact with EF to influence learning. The current dissertation includes two studies to examine how two aspects of the learning environment (the type of knowledge and instructional approaches) influence the relation between EF and learning. Study 1 examined how aspects of the material to be learned—the type of information and the amount of conflict between the content to be learned and children’s prior knowledge – influence the relation between individual differences in EF and learning. Typically developing 4-year-olds (N =61) completed a battery of EF tasks and several animal learning tasks that varied on the type of information being learned (factual vs. conceptual) and the amount of conflict with the learner’s prior knowledge (no prior knowledge, no conflicting prior knowledge, conflicting prior knowledge). Individual differences in cool EF predicted children’s overall learning, controlling for age, verbal IQ, and prior knowledge. Cool EF skills predicted children’s conceptual learning, whereas motor inhibition skills predicted children’s factual learning. Additionally, individual differences in EF mattered more for children’s learning of information that conflicted with their prior knowledge. Study 2 extended the findings from Study 1 by examining how individual differences in EF predicted children’s expression and construction of knowledge in a new science domain and whether EF moderated the effectiveness of different instructional approaches (direct instruction vs. discovery learning). Typically developing 4-and 5-year-olds (N =93) were randomly assigned to a Direct Instruction, Discovery Learning, or Control Condition. A pre-post-test design was used to measure change in children’s knowledge of sinking and floating before and after the instructional groups received three instructional sessions. The participants also completed a battery of EF tasks and standardized measures to assess their non-verbal and verbal IQ and their literacy and math achievement. Results showed EF was not a significant predictor of children’s expression of their sinking and floating knowledge at pre-test, controlling for age, verbal and non-verbal IQ, and SES. EF was also not a significant predictor of children’s construction of knowledge controlling for the covariates. However, exploratory analyses revealed there were promising interactions between EF and SES to predict children’s prior knowledge about sinking and floating and between EF and Prior Knowledge to predict children’s learning when collapsed across instructional groups. We also did not find evidence that individual differences in EF moderated the effectiveness of the different instructional approaches for children’s sinking and floating learning. Taken together, these findings suggest that individual differences in EF should be considered when creating personalized instructional materials and interventions to optimize preschoolers’ learning.
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University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. June 2020. Major: Child Psychology. Advisor: Stephanie Carlson. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 151 pages.
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Grenell, Amanda. (2020). Individual Differences in Executive Function and Learning: Role of Type of Knowledge and Instructional Approaches. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/224608.
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