Giofrè David, Mammarella Irene Cristina, Cornoldi Cesare
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2014 Jul;123:112-28. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.01.002. Epub 2014 Apr 5.
Although geometry is one of the main areas of mathematical learning, the cognitive processes underlying geometry-related academic achievement have not been studied in detail. This study explored the relationship among working memory (WM), intelligence (g factor), and geometry in 176 typically developing children attending school in their fourth and fifth grades. Structural equation modeling showed that approximately 40% of the variance in academic achievement and in intuitive geometry (which is assumed to be independent of a person's cultural background) was explained by WM and the g factor. After taking intelligence and WM into account, intuitive geometry was no longer significantly related to academic achievement in geometry. We also found intuitive geometry to be closely related to fluid intelligence (as measured by Raven's colored progressive matrices) and reasoning ability, whereas academic achievement in geometry depended largely on WM. These results were confirmed by a series of regressions in which we estimated the contributions of WM, intelligence, and intuitive geometry to the unique and shared variance explaining academic achievement in geometry. Theoretical and educational implications of the relationship among WM, intelligence, and academic achievement in geometry are discussed.
尽管几何是数学学习的主要领域之一，但与几何相关的学术成就背后的认知过程尚未得到详细研究。本研究探讨了176名四、五年级在校正常发育儿童的工作记忆（WM）、智力（g因素）和几何之间的关系。结构方程模型显示，学术成就和直观几何（假定与个人文化背景无关）中约40%的方差可由工作记忆和g因素解释。在考虑智力和工作记忆后，直观几何与几何学术成就不再显著相关。我们还发现直观几何与流体智力（通过瑞文彩色渐进矩阵测量）和推理能力密切相关，而几何学术成就很大程度上取决于工作记忆。通过一系列回归分析证实了这些结果，在这些回归分析中，我们估计了工作记忆、智力和直观几何对解释几何学术成就的独特和共同方差的贡献。讨论了工作记忆、智力和几何学术成就之间关系的理论和教育意义。
