TY - JOUR
T1 - Building Links Between Early Socioeconomic Status, Cognitive Ability, and Math and Science Achievement
AU - Blums, Angela
AU - Belsky, Jay
AU - Grimm, Kevin
AU - Chen, Zhe
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - The present study examined whether and how socioeconomic status (SES) predicts school achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using structural equation modeling and data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Child Care and Youth Development. The present inquiry addresses gaps in previous research linking SES and STEM achievement in high school. Results indicate that maternal education predicts the child’s early environment, which itself predicts the development of executive function (EF) and language, and thereby, STEM achievement. Moreover, children’s language ability and EF development influenced higher-order cognitive skills, such as relational reasoning, planning, and basic calculation skills. However, only relational reasoning strongly predicted high school math and science achievement, suggesting that relational reasoning, but not planning and calculation skills, was central to STEM thinking and learning.
AB - The present study examined whether and how socioeconomic status (SES) predicts school achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using structural equation modeling and data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Child Care and Youth Development. The present inquiry addresses gaps in previous research linking SES and STEM achievement in high school. Results indicate that maternal education predicts the child’s early environment, which itself predicts the development of executive function (EF) and language, and thereby, STEM achievement. Moreover, children’s language ability and EF development influenced higher-order cognitive skills, such as relational reasoning, planning, and basic calculation skills. However, only relational reasoning strongly predicted high school math and science achievement, suggesting that relational reasoning, but not planning and calculation skills, was central to STEM thinking and learning.
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U2 - 10.1080/15248372.2016.1228652
DO - 10.1080/15248372.2016.1228652
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84992365950
SN - 1524-8372
VL - 18
SP - 16
EP - 40
JO - Journal of Cognition and Development
JF - Journal of Cognition and Development
IS - 1
ER -