The Contribution of Cognitive Flexibility and Socioeconomic Status to Arithmetic Skills in Chinese Children

Cognitive flexibility, a key component of executive function, is essential for effective mathematical performance as it enables children to switch between operations and notations, transfer knowledge to novel situation, and shift between solution strategies to select the most optimal one. Despite its importance, cognitive flexibility has been underexplored, particularly in non-Western contexts. This doctoral research focuses on the arithmetic domain, a crucial part of the primary school mathematics curriculum, and investigates the associations between cognitive flexibility and three types of arithmetic knowledge – procedural, conceptual, and factual – in children aged 8 to 13 years from Jiangsu, China. Additionally, this study examines how family socioeconomic status contributes to individual differences in arithmetic performance and explores whether cognitive flexibility mediates this relation. There were eight computerised tasks: four assessing cognitive flexibility, three assessing arithmetic knowledge, and one measuring general cognitive ability. Family socioeconomic status was measured using a demographic questionnaire and the Family Affluence Scale. Structural equation modelling revealed that the predictive role of cognitive flexibility varied depending on the type of arithmetic knowledge. Specifically, cognitive flexibility was significantly associated with procedural and conceptual knowledge, explaining similar variance in both, but showed no significant relation to factual knowledge. These effects remained significant even after controlling for general cognitive ability. Heterogeneity was found based on socioeconomic status indicators. Family affluence score, but not a composite status measure of parental education and occupation, was significantly linked to both latent cognitive flexibility and arithmetic skills. Cognitive flexibility also mediated the link between family affluence and children’s arithmetic skills. Overall, this research advances the understanding of the complex relationships between executive functions and mathematics achievement by demonstrating the specific associations between cognitive flexibility and different types of arithmetic skills and establishing that this pattern is held within the context of mediation. By identifying a pathway from family affluence to arithmetic performance through cognitive flexibility, the study contributes to the literature on executive functions as a key mediator linking environmental factors to academic success. The findings offer valuable insights for future research on mathematics from both cognitive and socioeconomic perspectives and may guide the development of targeted interventions and curricula to improve mathematical performance.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Huang, Lei

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Ellefson, Michelle
• Ögel-Balaban, Hale

• executive functions
• cognitive flexibility
• arithmetic education
• primary school education
• family socioeconomic status

Licence

• https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/b26d6c2b-cd7a-4eb1-af32-516826bb41c6/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.120788

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/388396