Title:	COVID-19-related school closures and mathematical performance - findings from a study with grade 3 students in Germany
Authors:	Gasteiger, Hedwig Sachse, Karoline A. Schumann, Kristoph Gerve, Mona Schulz, Axel Engelbert-Kocher, Maria
ORCID of the author:	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8343-8654 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9502-6083 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6688-1267
Abstract:	Introduction: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, measures were taken that had a considerable impact on the situation in schools. In Germany, these measures lasted more than a year and ranged from school closures and distance learning to alternating teaching phases with small groups. In the present study, we examined whether third-grade students’ mathematics performance changed in different content domains before and after the COVID-19-related changes in school. Methods: In a repeated cross-sectional design, we compared two cohorts of third graders (2019: N = 1,905; 2021: N = 3,203) based on standardized mathematics tests, constructed according to the German National Educational Standards, which allowed for a differential competence diagnostic for five content domains. Generalized linear mixed models were used to model item and person properties and assess their effects on performance. Results: There was a significant drop in performance overall. While the drop in the content domain Numbers & Operations was smaller than the overall drop in performance, the content domains Space & Shape and Data, Frequency, Probability were more affected. Discussion: The findings of this study may be explained by the results of numerous surveys of students, teachers, and parents, which indicated that a lot of time was spent on exercises and reproduction tasks during distance learning.
Citations:	Gasteiger H, Sachse KA, Schumann K, Gerve M, Schulz A and Engelbert-Kocher M (2023): COVID-19-related school closures and mathematical performance—findings from a study with grade 3 students in Germany. Front. Educ. 8:1213857.
URL:	https://doi.org/10.48693/513 https://osnadocs.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de/handle/ds-2024022710884
Subject Keywords:	COVID-19; comparative study; mathematics; primary school; distance learning; content domains
Issue Date:	8-Sep-2023
License name:	Attribution 4.0 International
License url:	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Type of publication:	Einzelbeitrag in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift [Article]
Appears in Collections:	FB06 - Hochschulschriften Open-Access-Publikationsfonds

This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License