# Algebraic learning and cognition

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · 2020 · $364,374

## Abstract

Modified Project Summary/Abstract Section
Competence with algebra is the foundation for the mathematics that facilitates reasoned decision making in
many aspects of day-to-day life, including medical treatment choices (Reyna et al. 2009), is demanded in
high-paying technology and science fields (National Mathematics Advisory Panel 2008), and contributes to
employability and wages in many blue collar occupations (Bynner 1997). Yet, only 39% of US high school
graduates have the algebraic competencies needed for these endeavors. Improving the algebraic skills of
US students will yield individual and wider social benefits, but this goal has been difficult to achieve. One
impediment is our piecemeal understanding of algebraic learning and cognition that has resulted in both
practical and theoretical costs. Practically, one student may have difficulty due to an undervaluation of the
importance of mathematics, another may have poorly developed prerequisite skills, and a third may confuse
current learning with prior learning (proactive inhibition). The reasons for algebraic deficits in these students
are very different and consequently the interventions to address them would differ as well. No current theory
exists that integrates cognitive and non-cognitive processes on algebra readiness and learning, an
integration that is needed for the development of measures to better assess individual differences in
algebraic learning. In this proposal we develop such a model and use it to organize a comprehensive and
deep longitudinal study of individual and gender differences in readiness for algebra and the learning of
specific, core algorithmic and spatial-related algebraic competencies. Carefully chosen measures of
prerequisite skills, visuospatial memory and cognition, complex spatial ability, proactive interference, and
inherent sensitivity to magnitude will be administered to 450 7th graders. Their attitudes about mathematics
and their math anxiety, as well as their attentive behavior in mathematics and English (as a contrast)
classrooms will be annually assessed in 7th to 9th grade. At the beginning and end of 9th grade, participants
will be assessed using psychometric and cognitive measures of algebraic competence generally and
competence with algorithmic and spatial-dependent aspects of algebra in particular. The breadth and depth
of measures will enable testing of nuanced hypotheses regarding the contributions of different cognitive and
memory systems to different aspects of algebraic learning; the dynamic interactions between these systems
and developmental change in math attitudes and anxiety as related to engagement in the mathematics
classroom and algebraic learning and cognition; and, the cognitive and non-cognitive factors that contribute
to gender differences in certain aspects of algebra, specifically girls’ disadvantage in spatial aspects of
algebra and their undervaluation of mathematics. The combination will significantly advance our
understa...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9888399
- **Project number:** 5R01HD087231-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID C GEARY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $364,374
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-22 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9888399

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9888399, Algebraic learning and cognition (5R01HD087231-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9888399. Licensed CC0.

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