Online Psycho-Educational Intervention in Mathematical Learning Difficulties

The present study shows the results of six case studies referring to an intervention applied to mathematical learning difficulties. Participants were 8 to 12 years old. The intervention considered mathematics as a language and it is theoretically based on Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model, Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Peircean semiotics. The objective was to work on the development of academic skills associating mathematics with interactional social skills. The analysis was based on qualitative data collected during the intervention process and quantitative data from scales and instruments with pre- and post-intervention measures. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic context, some methodological issues were affected, mainly because the evaluations took place before and in the midst of the pandemic. Social impacts of the pandemic have unevenly affected participants, especially adolescents and children. The pandemic had a worse effect on adolescents than on children, especially regarding procedures that involve memory, and those with attentional problems also had worse results.

Access to material resources and the subjective well-being of children in Brazil and Chile

This article analyzes the relationships between the material conditions and the subjective well-being of 3,716 children (50.5% girls) between 10 and 12 years of age (M = 11.4) in Chile and Brazil. These are the two Latin American countries that took part in the third wave of the Children’s Worlds research. The material conditions of the children were assessed using latent classes. A multivariate analysis of covariance was done next in order to test the influence of material conditions over the children's subjective well-being and interpersonal relationships. The association between gender and country variables of the children was also studied. The results showed that although the average subjective well-being scores of the children were high in general, the class analysis showed significant differences between the results for children with better material conditions than those with poorer material conditions. The latter group presented lower subjective well-being levels. MANCOVA was used to analyze the mean differences in subjective well-being levels and interpersonal relationships controlling variables of gender and country of residence. This showed that children with greater access to better material conditions showed significantly higher levels of subjective well-being levels and had a more positive view of their interpersonal relationships in all areas assessed compared to those who reported worse material conditions. These results are discussed in view of the high indices of material deprivation that exist in Latin America during childhood as well as how these findings may help better understand the well-being of children living in Latin American countries.