| This study investigated the academic and cognitive processes involved in the mathematics section of an international academic instrument known as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). For the first part of this study, five experts in the fields of education and psychology and one novice rater were asked to identify the academic and cognitive processes involved when taking the PISA 2012 Mathematics section. An analysis of the raters' findings revealed that multiplication, division, visual-spatial processing, and working memory were considered important skills across the 26 items of the PISA 2012 Mathematics section. For the second part of the study, participants (N = 168) were asked to complete the PISA 2012 Mathematics section, multiplication and division problems geared toward 15-year-old students, a visual-spatial processing scale, and a working memory scale. Based on the data from the second study, standardized Cronbach's a was .719 for the PISA 2012 Mathematics section, .806 for the multiplication achievement items, .909 for the division achievement items, .878 for the visual-spatial processing items, and .708 for the working memory items. A multiple regression analysis showed that working memory was the strongest predictor of a participant's performance on the PISA 2012 Mathematics section. Lastly, a hierarchical regression demonstrated that the cognitive skills (e.g., working memory alone and the set of working memory and visual-spatial processing) were significant predictors of the PISA 2012 Mathematics section. |
