How often teachers use math methods grounded in research on how children learn makes a difference by the end of fourth grade. Children who got more of that kind of instruction scored higher in math, regardless of how interested they were in the subject to begin with.
The study, “Maximizing math achievement: Strategies from the science of learning”, is by Nicole R. Scalise, Jessica R. Gladstone and Dana Miller-Cotto. It was published online in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology on April 28, 2025, and appears in the journal’s September 2025 issue.
A national sample of 4,520 children
Earlier research had suggested that instruction built on science of learning principles helps math development in early childhood. This study asked whether the same holds in middle childhood.
The researchers drew on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010 to 2011, a large US dataset that follows children through elementary school. Their sample included 4,520 children with an average age of 10.1 years, half of them girls.
They linked how often children were exposed to math teaching aligned with science of learning principles to their math achievement at the end of fourth grade.
Frequency mattered, interest did not change it
Children who received such instruction more often had higher math achievement at the end of the year. That held after controlling for their earlier math achievement, the overall amount of math instruction they received, and their age, sex and socioeconomic status.
The team had expected that children’s own interest in math would shape the benefit, with keen students perhaps gaining more. The data did not bear that out. Initial math interest did not change the association between exposure to these strategies and end-of-year achievement.
For schools, the finding points to the content of math lessons rather than just their quantity: the same amount of class time went further when it followed what research says about how children learn.
Study Details:
- Title: Maximizing math achievement: Strategies from the science of learning
- Authors: Nicole R. Scalise, Jessica R. Gladstone, Dana Miller-Cotto
- Journal: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Vol. 257, 106281
- Publication Date: April 28, 2025
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106281