CHILDREN'S MATHEMATICAL SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT

How Does Working Memory Deficits Impact Children's Mathematical Scholastic Achievement

Small Research Grant Proposal

Title of Project

How Does Working Memory Deficits Impact Children's Mathematical Scholastic Achievement

Grant requested (to the nearest full pound)

£10,000

Duration of Research Project

(a) Duration of current proposal (maximum 24 months)

Start

1/2/2012

End

1/1/2014

TASKS

Months

1

3

5

7

9

11

12

13

14

15

17

18

19

20

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24

 

Construct Research Proposal

 

Draw up Issues/ Problems

 

Submit Proposal

 

Psychometric Assessment

 

Assessment, observations, focus groups

 

Analysis and redefine problem(s)

 

Implement Findings

 

Prepare Draft report

 

Begin full data Analysis

 

Write Full Project

 

4. Particulars of Costs

Item

Cost

Travel costs:

Travel to the various school around North West of England.

Weekly Bus pass for research assistant

9 months bus card purchased for research assistant i.e.

£40 * 9 = £360 for nine months

£360

Consumables

Psychometric assessment for 125 children participants

£500

Research/clerical assistance:

We would recruit research assistants (Grade 4) for 12 months for our project.

He would be checking the tests, scoring and data entry for 125 participants over a 12 months period.

£700 * 12 months = 6000

£8000

Other costs:

Other accidental/running expenses which would occur during the whole project

£500

Total funding sought

£9360

5. Scheme of Research

Rationale of the Project

Working memory can be thought of as a set of cognitive functions that allows a person to hold and manipulate information over short periods of time. Central to the notion of working memory is the view that the temporary storage of information is an active process which is an integral part of general cognitive functioning. Broadly, there are two classes of Working Memory theory. One type of theory views working memory as an embedded component of a single unitary memory system. By this view, the contents of working memory reflect what is currently activated from long-term memory, with an attentional mechanism providing a means of focusing on task-relevant activated information. Although this view of working memory can successfully explain why expertise in a particular field apparently enhances working memory capacity (for example, taxi drivers are particularly good at working memory tasks involving familiar street names), it does not easily account for the retention and manipulation of novel material in working memory.

Memory and attention are closely linked with language as well as when it was acquired during its use in communication. This is the long-term memory that can store the lexicon necessary for the development of speech but the short-term memory is so important in language acquisition and corrélerait with the verbal flow. Gathercole and Baddeley (1990) have demonstrated a memory deficit auditory-verbal short-term in children with language disorders. It is against the working memory (whose relationship with the attentional capacity is demonstrated) that would be most needed, both in planning and development of speech and to understanding of it. Attention and memory are in fact two functions particularly fragile in the child with language disorders. It is therefore important to check the functions preserved in children and identify processes which, with him, are most effective in order to propose the use of a more appropriate teaching materials (Aunio & Niemivirta, 2010).

Attention is evaluated in its different forms (verbal and nonverbal material, visual or auditory canal, sequential or simultaneous presentation) and in its various forms (sustained attention, selective and divided attentional ...