The relationship between executive functions (EF) and academic achievement is wellestablished, but leveraging this insight to improve educational outcomes remains elusive. Here, we propose a framework for relating the role of specific EF on specific precursor skills that support later academic learning. Starting from the premise that executive functions contribute to general math skills both directly -supporting the execution of problem solving strategies -and indirectly -supporting the acquisition of precursor mathematical content, we hypothesize that the contribution of domain-general EF capacities to precursor skills that support later learning can help explain relations between EF and overall math skills. We test this hypothesis by examining whether the contribution of inhibitory control on general math knowledge can be explained by inhibition's contribution to processing rational number pairs that conflict with individual's prior whole number knowledge. In 97 college students (79 female, age = 20.58 years), we collected three measures of EF: working memory (backwards spatial span), inhibition (color-word Stroop) and cognitive flexibility (task switching), and timed and untimed standardized measures of math achievement. Our target precursor skill was a decimals comparison task where correct responses were inconsistent with prior whole number knowledge (e.g., 0.27 vs. 0.9). Participants performed worse on these trials relative to the consistent decimals pairs (e.g., 0.2 vs. 0.87). Individual differences in the Stroop task predicted performance on inconsistent decimal comparisons, which in turn predicted general math achievement. With respect to relating inhibitory control to math achievement, Stroop performance was an independent predictor of achievement after accounting for age, working memory and cognitive flexibility, but decimal performance mediated this relationship. Finally, we found inconsistent decimals performance mediated the relationship of inhibition with rational number performance, but not other advanced mathematical concepts. These results pinpoint the specific contribution of inhibitory control to rational number understanding, and more broadly are consistent with the hypothesis that acquisition of foundational mathematical content can explain the relationships between executive functions and academic outcomes, making them promising targets for intervention.

Children can successfully compare continuous proportions as early as age 4, yet struggle to compare discrete proportions least to age 10, especially when the discrete information is misleading. This study examined whether inhibitory control contributes to individual differences in discrete proportional reasoning and whether reasoning could be enhanced by priming continuous information. Forty-nine second-graders completed two tasks. In the Hearts and Flowers (H&F) task, a measure of inhibition, children pressed either on the corresponding or opposite side depending on the identity of the displayed figure. In the Spinners task, a measure of proportional reasoning, children chose the spinner with the proportionally larger red area, across continuous and two discrete formats. In the discrete adjacent format, the continuous stimuli were segmented into sections, which could be compatible with the proportional information or misleading; the discrete mixed format interspersed the colored sections from the discrete adjacent conditions. Finally, two priming groups were formed. Children who saw the continuous immediately before the discrete adjacent format formed the Continuous-priming group (n =26). Children who saw discrete mixed immediately before the discrete adjacent format formed the Discrete-priming group (n =23). Our results showed that children who performed better in the H&F task also had better performance on the discrete counting misleading trials. Furthermore, children in the Continuous-priming group outperformed children in the Discrete-priming group, specifically in contexts where discrete information was misleading. These results suggest that children's proportional reasoning may be improved by fostering continuous representations of discrete stimuli and by enhancing inhibitory control skills.

Objective: To evaluate changes in electronic screen-based media use in 3-to 7-year-old children across six countries as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.Study design: Between April and July 2020, parents of 2516 children completed online survey measures reporting current ("now") and retrospective ("before the pandemic") screen-based media use for the purposes of entertainment, educational app use, and socializing with family and friends. Parents also reported family socioeconomic characteristics and impacts of the pandemic to their physical wellbeing (eg, whether a family member or friend had been diagnosed with COVID-19) and social disruption (e.g., whether family experienced a loss of income or employment due to the pandemic).Results: On average, children engaged with screens over 50 minutes more during the pandemic than before. This was largely driven by increases in screen use for entertainment purposes (nearly 40 minutes) and for use of educational apps (over 20 minutes). There was no overall change in screen use for socializing with family and friends. Children from lower socioeconomic status households increased screen use both for entertainment and educational app use more so than did children from higher socioeconomic status households. Conclusions:The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has increased overall electronic screenbased media use. As lives become increasingly digital by necessity, further research is needed to better understand positive and negative consequences of electronic screen-based media use.

Children can successfully compare continuous proportions as early as age 4, yet struggle to compare discrete proportions least to age 10, especially when the discrete information is misleading. This study examined whether inhibitory control contributes to individual differences in discrete proportional reasoning and whether reasoning could be enhanced by priming continuous information. Forty-nine second-graders completed two tasks. In the Hearts and Flowers (H&F) task, a measure of inhibition, children pressed either on the corresponding or opposite side depending on the identity of the displayed figure. In the Spinners task, a measure of proportional reasoning, children chose the spinner with the proportionally larger red area, across continuous and two discrete formats. In the discrete adjacent format, the continuous stimuli were segmented into sections, which could be compatible with the proportional information or misleading; the discrete mixed format interspersed the colored sections from the discrete adjacent conditions. Finally, two priming groups were formed. Children who saw the continuous immediately before the discrete adjacent format formed the Continuous-priming group (n =26). Children who saw discrete mixed immediately before the discrete adjacent format formed the Discrete-priming group (n =23). Our results showed that children who performed better in the H&F task also had better performance on the discrete counting misleading trials. Furthermore, children in the Continuous-priming group outperformed children in the Discrete-priming group, specifically in contexts where discrete information was misleading. These results suggest that children’s proportional reasoning may be improved by fostering continuous representations of discrete stimuli and by enhancing inhibitory control skills.

The persistent educational challenges that fractions pose call for developing novel instructional methods to better prepare students for fraction learning. Here, we examined the effects of a 24-session, Cuisenaire rod intervention on a building block for symbolic fraction knowledge, continuous and discrete non-symbolic proportional reasoning, in children who have yet to receive fraction instruction. Participants were 34 second-graders who attended the intervention (intervention group) and 15 children who did not participate in any sessions (control group). As attendance at the intervention sessions was irregular (median = 15.6 sessions, range = 1–24), we specifically examined the effect of the number of sessions completed on their non-symbolic proportional reasoning. Our results showed that children who attended a larger number of sessions increased their ability to compare non-symbolic continuous proportions. However, contrary to our expectations, they also decreased their ability to compare misleading discretized proportions. In contrast, children in the Control group did not show any change in their performance. These results provide further evidence on the malleability of non-symbolic continuous proportional reasoning and highlight the rigidity of counting knowledge interference on discrete proportional reasoning.