The Classroom as a Developmental Context for Cognitive Development: A Meta-Analysis on the Importance of Teacher–Student Interactions for Children’s Executive Functions

Abstract

Executive functions (EFs), important cognitive processes that enable goaldirected behavior, develop due to maturation and environmental stimulation. The current study systematically reviews and synthesizes evidence on the association between teacher-student interactions and EFs. The search resulted in 28 studies, from which 23 studies provided sufficient data to be included in the calculations. Overall effect sizes indicate that teacher-child interactions are related to general executive functioning, working memory, and inhibition but not cognitive flexibility. Relationships were stronger for studies including children at the beginning of elementary school, studies with higher socioeconomic status participants and more boys, and studies measuring teacher-child interactions at the dyadic level. This study shows that qualitative teacher-child interactions are important for performance in EFs in children. This suggests that teachers can promote the cognitive processes that are essential in children's learning by changing their behavior to create an emotionally positive, structured, and cognitively stimulating classroom environment.

A Systematic Review of Teacher–Child Interactions With Multilingual Young Children

“…When we consider this model in an educational setting, the main proximal process is the interaction between teacher and child. The extent to which a teacher is able to adjust the learning opportunities to an individual child and his or her specific characteristics is a crucial factor in promoting the child's development of academic, cognitive, as well as social skills (Connor et al, 2009;Hamre & Pianta, 2007;Vandenbroucke, Spilt, Verschueren, Piccinin, & Baeyens, 2018).…”

Development of executive function skills: Examining the role of teachers and externalizing behaviour problems

“…One core EF is working memory, or the ability to remember, process, and integrate previous information with new information (Vanderbrouke, Spilt, Verschueren, Piccinin, & Baeyens, 2018). For example, for children, to follow directions requires the ability to remember a set of instructions, process how to complete the task, and then carry it out.…”

“…Moreover, children who struggle with both EF deficits and EBP are often diagnosed with mental health disorders at a young age (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, or oppositional defiance disorder; Schoemaker et al, 2012), which can have negative impacts throughout the children's lifetimes (Pardini & Fite, 2010). Whereas brain health and maturation have an obvious impact on EF development, evidence exists that environmental experiences, such as teacher-child interactions, also impact EF development throughout childhood (Berry, 2012;De Wilde, Koot, & Van Lier, 2016;McKinnon & Blair, 2019;Rueda, Rothbart, McCandliss, Saccomanno, & Posner, 2005;Vanderbrouke et al, 2018).…”

The Long View of Visible Learning’s Impact

“…It is important to understand why there can be such changes. In this case, for example, it is because a more recent study (Vandenbroucke, Spilt, Verschueren, Piccinin, & Baeyens, 2018 [5]) asked about the effects of teacher-student relations on executive functioning, working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, which are among the critical achievement outcomes (and they are low, d = 0.18). Unlike referencing a single published article that will maintain the effect size over time, the Visible Learning database is continually updated and the details of new articles can be critical.…”