Abstracts - Earli

early training supported the development of reading skills. The best support was given byexercises that emphasized the skills of analyzing the rhythmic structure of words. The studyreinforced the notion that it is important to pay attention to the development of reading skills bothconsistently and from a wide range of perspectives all through the comprehensive school.J 830 August 2007 17:00 - 18:20Room: 4.95Paper SessionCognitive skillsChair:Peter Reimann, Northumbria University, AustraliaImproving students’ working memory, fluid intelligence, and science achievement throughcomputerized cognitive trainingKun Yuan, Stanford University, USARichard Shavelson, Stanford University, USAAlicia Alonzo, the University of Iowa, USAJeffrey Steedle, Stanford University, USAWorking memory (WM) is a cognitive system responsible for simultaneously maintaining andmanipulating information during cognitive activity (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974). It contains bothattention control and memory storage capacities (Engle, Tuholski, Laughlin, & Conway, 1999). Ithas been found to be closely related to fluid intelligence and science achievement (Yuan, Steedle,Shavelson, Alonzo, & Oppezzo, in press). Historically, working memory capacity (WMC) wasassumed to be fixed. A recent study found computerized cognitive training (CCT) couldsignificantly increase WMC and fluid intelligence of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivitydisorder (ADHD) in a clinical setting. This study examined whether regular students wouldsignificantly improve their WM, fluid intelligence, and science achievement, through CCT in aschool setting. Thirty-seven seventh and eighth grade middle-school students participated in apretest-posttest controlled experiment to examine whether CCT would significantly improve theirWM. Students were randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups after they tookmeasures of WM, fluid intelligence, and science achievement. Experimental group students tookCCT on WM, while control group students studied computerized science lessons and low levelCCT on WM. Students in both groups were trained for 24.65 days on average. Students wereretested with the same tests at end of training. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) examinedwhether experimental group students made significantly greater improvements on WM, fluidintelligence, and science achievement than did control group students. Results confirmed thatstudents improved their memory storage and attention control, with more improvement in theformer than the latter. A tentative connection between CCT tasks and performance on WMmeasures was observed. No substantial changes were observed in fluid intelligence or scienceachievement. We recommend adding dual-type training exercises to further enhance CCT’s impacton WM, fluid intelligence, and science achievement.– 547 –