Descripción del proyecto
MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT IS AN EU CONCERN, AS 22,2% OF 15-YEAR-OLDS SHOW INSUFFICIENT ABILITIES IN MATHS AND STILL WITH A GENDER GAP WITH BOYS OUTPERFORMING GIRLS, BUT WHICH FACTORS ARE UNDERLYING MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT? WHICH FACTORS MAKE A CHILD BE A LOW/HIGH-ACHIEVER IN MATH? WHY DO GIRLS PERFORM WORSE THAN BOYS? THESE QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED BY TWO APPROACHES HIGHLIGHTING THE RELEVANCE OF COGNITIVE DETERMINANTS, CHARACTERIZED AS MENTAL PROCEDURES INVOLVING COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS, AND NON-COGNITIVE DETERMINANTS, AS A BROAD CONSTRUCT INCLUDING MATH ANXIETY, PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND EXPECTATIONS, AND TEMPERAMENTAL TRAITS, HOWEVER, BOTH SETS OF DETERMINANTS HAVE BEEN STUDIED INDEPENDENTLY WITHOUT AN INTEGRATION BETWEEN THEM, AND THIS IS CRITICAL AS THE SOLUTION WILL INVOLVE A CONSIDERATION OF THE TWO SETS OF DETERMINANTS, WITH THIS PROPOSAL I AIM TO GO BEYOND THE STATE-OF-THE-ART WITH THREE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: (1) TO DEVELOP AN INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK ABOUT THE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT BY COMBINING COGNITIVE AND NON-COGNITIVE DETERMINANTS, (2) TO IDENTIFY PROFILES OF HIGH- AND LOW- ACHIEVERS IN MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT, (3) TO UNDERSTAND THE GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT, CHILDRENS DETERMINANTS WILL BE EVALUATED WITH A COMBINATION OF MEASURES ALREADY USED BY THE HOSTING GROUP AND THE MARIE CURIE CANDIDATE, STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING WILL BE APPLIED, WITH MULTI-LEVEL MODELLING AND MODERATIONAL ANALYSES, TO DEVELOP THE INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK WITH COGNITIVE AND NON-COGNITIVE DETERMINANTS; LATENT CLASS ANALYSIS WILL BE RUN TO IDENTIFY THE HIGH- AND LOW- ACHIEVERS PROFILES; AND I WILL TEST GENDER DIFFERENCES BY RUNNING THE SAME ANALYSES FOR OBJECTIVE 1 AND 2 BUT CHECKING IF THERE ARE DIFFERENT BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS, THE RESULTS WILL PROVIDE A FULLER PICTURE ABOUT THE RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS RELATED TO CHILDRENS MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT AND SERVE AS A GROUND FOR SPECIFIC INTERVENTIONS PROGRAMS, MATHEMATICS\EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS\TEMPERAMENT\INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES\CHILDHOOD\ACHIEVEMENT