Cognitive acceleration in mathematics education: further evidence of impact

Sarah Seleznyov*, M. Adhami, A. Black, J. Hodgen, S. Twiss

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The Cognitive Acceleration (or Let’s Think) approach to mathematics teaching is a Piagetian programme drawing on Vygotsky’s research, developed at King’s College London over 30 years ago, along with its associated professional development (PD) programme. This project sought to replicate the original studies conducted 10–15 years earlier and before much national curriculum change, through a professional development project with 41 teachers of children aged 6–12 from London in 2014. Results of pre- and post-test of mathematics attainment are reported for 232 students. Despite a shorter duration, data shows increased teacher efficacy, improved teaching and a mean gain equivalent to 2.6 months learning for benefitting students, which broadly mirrors cognitive effects of original trials with twice the duration. This evidence corroborates the impact demonstrated in several original CA research papers, and additionally details specific impact on teacher confidence and classroom practice.

Original languageEnglish
Article number072005
Pages (from-to)564-576
Number of pages13
JournalEducation 3-13
Volume50
Issue number5
Early online date20 Jan 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project was funded by the Greater London Authority, through the London Schools Excellence Fund.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Cognitive Acceleration
  • mathematics teaching
  • problem solving
  • professional development

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