Effects of Improvements in Interval Timing on the Mathematics Achievement of Elementary School Students

Abstract

This article examines the effect of improvements in timing/rhythmicity on mathematics achievement. A total of 86 participants attending 1st through 4th grades completed pre- and posttest measures of mathematics achievement from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Students in the experimental group participated in a 4-week intervention designed to improve their timing/rhythmicity by reducing latency response to a synchronized metronome beat. The intervention required, on average, 18 daily sessions of approximately 50 minutes each. The results from this nonacademic intervention indicate the experimental group’s posttest scores on the measures of mathematics were significantly higher than the nontreatment control group’s scores. This article proposes an integration of psychometric theory and contemporary information processing theory to provide a context from which to develop preliminary hypotheses to explain how a nonacademic intervention designed to improve timing/rhythmicity can demonstrate a statistically significant effect on students’ mathematics achievement scores.

Keywords:

• early childhood mathematics
• achievement
• assessment
• educational intervention
• mathematics
• elementary
• intervention
• standardized tests

Notes

1. Another typical description of information processing models makes a distinction between: (1) memory systems—short-term and long-term memory, (2) types of knowledge—declarative and procedural, and (3) types of processing—controlled and automatic (Lohman, 2000).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded in part through a grant from Interactive Metronome, Inc.