Category: Maths and Science Learning

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Maths and Science Learning Primary School Education

Effects of Zearn Math and balancing analyses in large-scale trials

A new EdWorkingPaper from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University highlights not only the effects of Zearn Math, a digital K–8 platform, but also how education researchers balance confirmatory and exploratory analyses in large-scale trials. Conducted by the RAND Corporation, the two-year randomized controlled study involved more than 10,500 students in Grades 3 to 5 across 64 schools in a large urban Texas district. The study focused on the STAAR state assessment as its preregistered confirmatory outcome, given the test’s central role in Texas accountability policy and its alignment with grade-level standards. The NWEA MAP served as a preregistered exploratory outcome. Researchers use confirmatory outcomes in preregistration to indicate the primary outcomes they will use to test their key questions and interpret as the main evidence of impact. Exploratory outcomes can still have hypotheses and be preregistered, but they are typically secondary measures (like a district test vs. the state test) and are interpreted with more caution, helping researchers see if patterns replicate across measures without overclaiming from secondary data.

The study provides important context on Zearn Math’s implementation and usage patterns. Schools received beginning-of-year training, biweekly coaching for instructional leads, and classroom-level incentives to promote engagement. In the second year, usage increased substantially. By the final semester, most students met recommended weekly usage goals, and half completed the full sequence of on-grade-level lessons for the year. On the confirmatory STAAR outcomes, students in Zearn schools showed small positive effects, with effect sizes of +0.07 for all students and +0.10 for those who were below proficient at baseline. Although these results were not statistically significant, they may suggest improvement relative to business-as-usual practice.

Exploratory analyses of the MAP adaptive math assessment revealed larger and statistically significant effects, including an effect size of +0.13 for students who began below proficiency. While these results fall outside the preregistered plan and are reported with caution, they suggest that Zearn Math may support broader math learning that extends beyond grade-level benchmarks. Clearly identifying preregistered versus exploratory outcomes helps ground the study’s conclusions in rigor while still surfacing insights that can inform future research. Together, the consistent direction of the findings, strong second-year implementation, and significant exploratory gains suggest that Zearn Math holds promise for helping students, especially those below proficiency, build foundational skills and make progress in math.

 

Source: Pane, John F., Christopher Doss, Ivy Todd, and Dorothy Seaman. (2025). Efficacy of Zearn Math over two years in grades 3 to 5: An experiment in Texas. (EdWorkingPaper: 25-1211). https://doi.org/10.26300/e3bq-7g59… Read the rest

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Maths and Science Learning Secondary School Education

Can female tutors inspire girls in STEM interest, engagement, and performance?

Persistent gender disparities in STEM remain, even when girls perform equally well as boys in STEM subjects. These disparities suggest the importance of challenging existing preconceived views about gender differences in STEM and highlight the need for role models who may help change these views. A recent study investigated whether female tutors in STEM-related subjects improve girls’ STEM interest, engagement, and math performance.

The researchers partnered with a New England school district where five high schools offered Algebra 1 tutoring to ninth-grade students. The students were placed into small tutoring groups ranging from one to three students, and then randomly assigned to match with either a female or male tutor. Initially, tutoring was planned as an in-person, school-day program. However, due to difficulties hiring enough local tutors, it was ultimately delivered in person at two schools and virtually at three others. 422 students were in the final analysis sample, taught by 23 tutors.

Results indicated that ninth-grade girls who learned from female math tutors reported markedly higher interest in STEM compared to those who learned from male tutors (a 0.73 standard deviation difference). Moreover, they were also 3.9% more likely to earn at least a C- in Algebra 1. No significant difference was found for tutoring assessments or attendance, likely due to measurement issues. Thus, the study highlighted the positive STEM role model that female tutors can play, particularly during the early high school years. The findings indicate that ensuring additional female tutors for gender matching in STEM at the outset of students’ high school careers may be a promising strategy to mitigate gender inequality in STEM.

 

Source (Open Access): Bleiberg, Joshua, Carly D. Robinson, Evan Bennett, and Susanna Loeb. (2025). The Impact of Tutor Gender Match on Girls’ STEM Interest, Engagement, and Performance. (EdWorkingPaper: 25-1178). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/n6xz-cs89… Read the rest

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K-12 Education Language Development Maths and Science Learning

How early do STEM and verbal abilities stereotypes start among children?

In a recent meta-analysis on children’s gender stereotypes about STEM and verbal abilities, data from 98 studies across 33 nations involving more than 145,000 children were integrated. The findings reveal that verbal stereotypes favoring girls’ abilities (b = 0.19) are stronger than aggregated STEM stereotypes (b = 0.09). A closer look shows that at age 6, stereotypes reflected in-group bias—boys favoring boys, and girls favoring girls. These gender differences declined with age, and by age 16, the stereotypes tended to align with traditional gender roles: boys were favored in STEM ability, and girls in verbal ability.

Girls showed stronger pro-female verbal stereotypes than boys, and while verbal stereotypes increasingly favored girls with age, STEM stereotypes remained more stable. Girls’ STEM beliefs shifted from pro-female to pro-male around ages 10–12, while boys’ verbal beliefs flipped to pro-female around ages 8–10. By age 8, verbal stereotypes already significantly favored girls. STEM stereotypes varied by domain, with stronger male-favoring beliefs in computer science, engineering, and physics (b = 0.25), and weaker or negligible biases in general math (b = 0.06) and science (b = 0.09). Background also mattered: children identified as Black held weaker STEM stereotypes than those identified as White, especially among girls. Black children’s views were largely gender-neutral, while White children slightly favored boys.

These results suggest that stereotypes emerge early, and may shape children’s interests and academic choices. Addressing these beliefs calls for cross-disciplinary collaboration and greater research focus on understudied areas like computing, engineering, and verbal ability development. Interventions could aim to challenge or broaden stereotypes and mitigate their impact, guided by a clear understanding of when such beliefs typically take root.

 

Source (Open Access): Miller, D. I., Lauer, J. E., Tanenbaum, C., & Burr, L. (2024). The development of children’s gender stereotypes about STEM and verbal abilities: A preregistered meta-analytic review of 98 studies. Psychological bulletin, 150(12), 1363–1396. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000456… Read the rest

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K-12 Education Maths and Science Learning

The effects of integrated STEM education in K12

Integrated STEM education, which combines science, technology, engineering, and mathematics into interdisciplinary learning, has gained growing attention for its potential to prepare students for real-world challenges. A recent meta-analysis by Chen and colleagues synthesized 109 studies (experimental or quasi-experimental designs) conducted between 2010-2022 to examine its effectiveness in K-12 settings. The researchers examined the effects of integrated STEM education through three primary types of interventions:

  1. Comparing integrated STEM education to non-integrated approaches in STEM programs (70 studies)
  2. Implementing extra teaching and learning (T&L) strategies (like guided prompts and process modelling) versus not using them in integrated STEM programs (23 studies)
  3. Incorporating specific learning technologies (e.g., simulations, virtual reality) versus not using them in integrated STEM programs (16 studies)

The findings reveal that all three approaches yielded positive effects. Integrated STEM education showed large effects on cognitive skills (g=0.94), knowledge acquisition (g=0.62) and perceptions (g=0.37). Notably, quasi-experimental studies demonstrated larger effects compared to randomized controlled trials. Programs with shorter duration and smaller sample size tended to obtain relatively larger effect sizes. Design-based tasks enhanced student perception but were less effective for knowledge acquisition compared to inquiry-based tasks.

Extra T&L strategies exhibited small to medium effects on cognitive skills (g=0.71), problem-solving task (g=0.52), and perceptions (g=0.34). Using technologies in integrated STEM showed medium effects on knowledge acquisition (g= 0.61), social skills (g=0.54) and perception (g=0.47).

The authors discussed several practice implications that may benefit integrated STEM education. While quasi-experimental studies showed larger effects, the variation in effect sizes between research designs suggests the need for more rigorous randomized controlled trials to validate these findings.

 

Source: Chen, B., Chen, J., Wang, M., Tsai, C.-C., & Kirschner, P. A. (2025). The effects of integrated STEM education on K12 students’ achievements: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 00346543251318297. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543251318297… Read the rest

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Achievement Maths and Science Learning Primary School Education

The effects of CGI professional development on student achievement in grades 3-5

A cluster-randomized trial examined the Year 1 effects of a three-year professional development program for math teachers, the Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) 3-5 Program, on third through fifth graders’ achievement in fractions learning.

The study involved 149 teachers in grades 3-5 from 31 schools in 9 districts in Florida who were assigned randomly to the CGI condition or to a wait-list control group. Teachers in the CGI group participated in workshops on number operations, and algebraic thinking, with a focus on fractions. These workshops took place over 5 days in the summer, 2 in the fall, and 2 in the winter. The training focused on math problem types and student strategies and included teacher-student interactions where teachers applied what they learned, with later reflection and sharing with colleagues. Teachers in the control group continued with business-as-usual instruction.

Students were pre- and posttested using the Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment. Results showed that students of teachers in the CGI program outperformed the control group at post-test (ES=+0.19), which authors cited as a medium effect size equivalent to 1/5 of a school year in grade 3, and 1/3 of a school year in grades 4 and 5. A cost analysis, using Kraft’s schema to relate effect size to program cost, yielded a low per-student cost of $137.25. While CGI 3-5 is designed to be a 3-year program, this study provides important evidence of its one-year effects.

 

Source: Schoen, R. C., LaVenia, M., Tazaz, A. M., Gersten, R., & Smolkowski, K. (2024). Effects of a mathematics teacher professional development program on grades 3–5 student achievement: A multisite cluster-randomized trial. The Elementary School Journal, 125(2), 322–346. https://doi.org/10.1086/732783… Read the rest

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Higher Education K-12 Education Maths and Science Learning

The effect of student-centered strategies on learning outcomes in math teaching

Mathematics education has undergone significant evolution over the years, transitioning from traditional teacher-centered methods to more dynamic student-centered approaches. Grounded in constructivist learning theory, contemporary mathematics teaching fundamentally relies on learners’ autonomous knowledge-building activities. Consequently, student-centered strategies are widely expected to positively impact the learning process.

To investigate the potential relationship between student-centered strategies and mathematical problem-solving skills, researchers from Turkey conducted a meta-analysis of relevant literature in both Turkish and English. A total of 55 studies and 69 effect sizes were analyzed, revealing a large effect size (Hedge’s g = +0.87). Further analysis indicated that this positive effect is consistent across primary, secondary, and tertiary education levels, with longer interventions (exceeding nine weeks) yielding the most substantial impact. Based on these findings, the authors concluded that student-centered strategies, methods, or techniques in mathematics teaching are particularly effective in enhancing students’ problem-solving skills.

 

Source (Open Access): Uyandıran, A., & Tarım, K. (2024). The Effect of Student-Centered Strategies, Methods and Techniques Used in Mathematics Teaching on Problem Solving Skills: A Meta-Analysis Study. Çukurova Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 53(1), 131-166. https://doi.org/10.14812/cuefd.1292823… Read the rest