Ask A REL Response

November 2018

Question

Do interventions that promote mindfulness improve the math achievement of secondary students?

Response

Following an established REL Southeast research protocol, we conducted a search for research reports as well as descriptive study articles on the impact of mindfulness interventions on secondary mathematics achievement. We focused on identifying resources that specifically addressed the impact of mindfulness interventions on secondary mathematics achievement. The sources included ERIC and other federally funded databases and organizations, research institutions, academic research databases, and general Internet search engines (For details, please see the methods section at the end of this memo.)

We have not evaluated the quality of references and the resources provided in this response. We offer them only for your reference. These references are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily in order of relevance. Also, we searched the references in the response from the most commonly used resources of research, but they are not comprehensive and other relevant references and resources may exist.

Research References

1. Ahmed, K., Trager, B., Rodwell, M., Foinding, L., & Lopez, C. (2017). A review of mindfulness research related to alleviating math and science anxiety. Journal for Leadership and Instruction, 16(2), 26-30. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1167170
   From the abstract: "Defined as nonjudgmentally paying attention to the present moment (Kabat-Zinn, 1994), modern-day mindfulness has gained considerable attention in various science fields. However, despite this growth, many uses of mindfulness remain unexplored. In this paper, we focus on the application of mindfulness programs in educational settings, specifically to target math and science anxiety. Since education-related anxiety can have negative consequences on students and interfere with academic performance, researchers have begun exploring the plausibility and efficacy of implementing mindfulness programs into school curriculums to alleviate these anxious feelings. This may be particularly beneficial to math and science, as those are two fields infamously associated with anxiety yet ones that desperately need occupational growth. This paper explores the limited research connecting mindfulness to reduced test anxiety and emphasizes the need for more research directly assessing the effects of mindfulness on math and science in particular."
2. Semple, R. J., Droutman, V., & Reid, B. A. (2017). Mindfulness goes to school: Things learned (so far) from research and real-world experiences. Psychology in the Schools, 5(4), 1, 29-52. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5405439/
   From the abstract: "Mindfulness-based curricula are being implemented in K-12 schools across the nation. Many of these programs, although well considered and implemented, have little or no research support for their effectiveness. Recognizing the paucity of published research in this area, a sampling of school-based programs currently being implemented in the schools is reviewed. The programs reviewed are 'Inner Explorer,' 'Master Mind' and 'Moment Program,' 'Mindfulness and Mind-Body Skills for Children,' 'Mindful Schools,' 'Resilient Kids,' 'Still Quiet Place,' 'Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Curriculum' and "Mindful Moment,' and 'Wellness and Resilience Program.' We offer a summary of research support for each program and discussion of unpublished, mostly qualitative indicators of feasibility, acceptability, efficacy, and effectiveness. Strengths and limitations of each program are described, along with suggestions for bolstering informative and useful research. We encourage researchers, educators, and mindfulness practitioners to work collaboratively to conduct rigorous program evaluations."
3. Waters, L., Barsky, A., Ridd, A., & Allen, K. (2015). Contemplative education: A systematic, evidence-based review of the effect of meditation interventions in schools. Educational Psychology Review, 27(1), 103-134. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1051037
   From the abstract: "Schools need reliable evidence about the outcomes of meditation programs before they consider if and how such programmes can influence learning agendas, curriculum and timetables. This paper reviewed evidence from 15 peer-reviewed studies of school meditation programmes with respect to three student outcomes: well-being, social competence and academic achievement. In total, there were 76 results where effect sizes could be calculated. The overall number of participants in the effect size analyses was 1,797. Of the 76 effect sizes calculated, 61% were statistically significant. Sixty-seven per cent of the results had small effects on student outcomes, 24% of the results had medium effect strength and 9% showed a large effect of meditation upon student outcomes. Transcendental meditation programmes had a higher percentage of significant effects than mindfulness-based and other types of meditation programmes, but this may be to do with the settings and programme delivery rather than the technique itself. Programme elements such as duration, frequency of practice and type of instructor influenced student outcomes. A conceptual model is put forward based on two propositions: proposition 1-meditation positively influences student success by increasing cognitive functioning; proposition 2-meditation positively influences student success by increasing emotional regulation. Suggestions are made to stimulate future research and to assist in the development of more efficacious applications for meditation in schools."

Additional Organizations to Consult

UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) - http://uclahealth.org/marc
From the website: "The Mindful Awareness Research Center is a partner of the Norman Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology within the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. MARC's mission is to foster mindful awareness across the lifespan through education and research to promote well-being and a more compassionate society... MARC was created to bring to a renowned mental health research institution the ancient art of mindful awareness in a scientifically supported and rigorous form.

Our center

• offers classes and workshops to the general public, teaching the skills of mindfulness across the lifespan
• fosters and publicizes research to support the scientific benefits of mindful awareness
• brings mindfulness to professionals through UCLA's medical education program-including doctors, medical students, staff and faculty
• offer mindfulness tools and classes to support mental health professionals

Methods

Keywords and Search Strings
The following keywords and search strings were used to search the reference databases and other sources:

• Mindfulness AND (secondary math OR high school math)
• Mindfulness practices on high school math
• Mindfulness practices on secondary math
• Mindfulness impacts on math

Databases and Resources
We searched ERIC for relevant resources. ERIC is a free online library of over 1.6 million citations of education research sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences. Additionally, we searched Google Scholar and PsychInfo.

Reference Search and Selection Criteria

When we were searching and reviewing resources, we considered the following criteria:

• Date of the publication: References and resources published for last 15 years, from 2003 to present, were include in the search and review.
• Search Priorities of Reference Sources: Search priority is given to study reports, briefs, and other documents that are published and/or reviewed by IES and other federal or federally funded organizations, academic databases, including ERIC, EBSCO databases, JSTOR database, PsychInfo, PsychArticle, and Google Scholar.
• Methodology: Following methodological priorities/considerations were given in the review and selection of the references: (a) study types - randomized control trials,, quasi experiments, surveys, descriptive data analyses, literature reviews, policy briefs, etc., generally in this order (b) target population, samples (representativeness of the target population, sample size, volunteered or randomly selected, etc.), study duration, etc. (c) limitations, generalizability of the findings and conclusions, etc.

This memorandum is one in a series of quick-turnaround responses to specific questions posed by educational stakeholders in the Southeast Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina), which is served by the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast at Florida State University. This memorandum was prepared by REL Southeast under a contract with the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Contract ED-IES-17-C-0011, administered by Florida State University. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IES or the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

This memorandum is one in a series of quick-turnaround responses to specific questions posed by educational stakeholders in the Southeast Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina), which is served by the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast at Florida State University. This memorandum was prepared by REL Southeast under a contract with the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Contract ED-IES-17-C-0011, administered by Florida State University. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IES or the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.