Why do some pupils become ever better at mathematics, while others plateau?

• Do maths skills primarily revolve around working memory and how much pupils can hold in their heads at once?
• Or is the key more about pupils’ motivation to work on the subject?

Many people may think that mathematics is primarily about cognitive skills. A new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) provides a more nuanced view.

“Our findings suggest that intrinsic motivation is more important than working memory for whether a pupil improves in mathematics,” says Astrid Hoås Morin, an associate professor at NTNU’s Department of Education and Lifelong Learning.

Hoås Morin and colleagues have looked at whether pupils’ motivation or working memory matters most for being able to improve in mathematics over time. Hoås Morin is the first author of their recently published study in Contemporary Educational Psychology.

The foundation for the study was data from the long-standing Trondheim Early Secure Study (TESS) project. The researchers in this study used information from participants who were between 8 and 16 years old.
They also used a new approach to analysis that allowed them to
distinguish stable differences between pupils from changes that occurred in individual pupils.

This allowed them to examine not only who does best in mathematics, but also what factors appear to be related to further development.

Working memory is the mental notebook we use when we need to keep several things in our heads at the same time. In mathematics, for example, working memory could be about remembering numbers, rules and intermediate calculations while solving a problem.

Working memory also has a strong influence on how pupils fare in maths. The pupils who are the sharpest often have good working memory. But working memory is not that easy to modify.

“Working memory is more about stable differences between pupils than about what drives further development,” says Hoås Morin.

Pupils who currently have good working memory often continue to have relatively good working memory later in life.

A more promising way to help pupils when the goal is to improve their mathematics skills seems to be to create interest, mastery and engagement than trying to train their working memory.

So motivation, and not working memory, turns out to be the most important factor for improving proficiency over time. Motivation is easier to influence, and much can be gained here. Improvement in mathematics is therefore possible, even if one’s working memory is not top notch.

Intrinsic motivation means that the pupil works at maths because they experience the subject as interesting, fun or meaningful – not just to get good grades, praise or to avoid a chewing-out.

“A more promising way to help pupils when the goal is to improve their
mathematics skills seems to be to create interest, mastery and engagement than to
try to train their working memory,” says Hoås Morin.

Targeted practice also makes pupils better at maths. But you need motivation to practise.

Motivation can also be self-reinforcing. Higher intrinsic motivation was associated with better maths performance two years later. At the same time, the researchers observed that pupils who did better in math showed higher intrinsic motivation in the next round of testing.

“We found that intrinsic motivation and maths performance seem to reinforce each other over time. Motivation can help pupils do better in maths, and mastering math can in turn provide more motivation,” says Hoås Morin. And it is probably important to start early with making math more interesting for pupils.

“Motivation is not just something that occurs after you become good at maths, but it can also be part of the path to getting there. Therefore, it is particularly important to give pupils math experiences that arouse their interest, mastery and engagement,” she said.