Abstract:
Socioeconomic status (SES) accounts for up to one-third of educational inequality. Particularly through its association with cognitive and motivational-affective characteristics, it has a significant influence on students‘ performance. In our classroom intervention, 321 sixth-graders worked through an e-textbook unit on fractions and the number line. Depending on their condition, they received different types of instructional scaffolding: adaptive task difficulty, explanatory feedback, dynamic visualizations, or no scaffolding (control condition). Moreover, they completed a variety of questionnaires, based on which we conducted latent profile analyses to identify student profiles. We found that lower-SES students were more likely to be assigned to a group with characteristics unfavorable to learning. Our linear mixed models indicated that these students benefited particularly from adaptive task difficulty as a form of motivational scaffolding. These findings underscore the importance of tailored, technology-supported instruction in addressing SES-related educational disparities.
Bio:
Katharina Bach is a research associate at the Chair of Education and Educational Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, where she has been working since October 2022. She is in her final year of pursuing her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sarah Hofer, focusing on research in teaching and learning. Her work explores how adaptivity and (digital) support measures can promote learning and performance among underserved students, leading to more educational equity. In her research, Katharina examines both system-based adaptivity and technology-enhanced learning environments, as well as teacher-led adaptivity, including one-on-one tutoring contexts. She recently completed a two-month research stay at KU Leuven, where she collaborated with Prof. Dr. Fien Depaepe on teachers’ data literacy and the usage of teacher dashboards. Before beginning her PhD, Katharina studied Psychology (B.Sc.) at the University of Münster and the University of California, Los Angeles. She later specialized in the learning sciences during her Master’s in Psychology (M.Sc.) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, with an additional research stay at UC Berkeley’s School of Education with Prof. Dr. Marcia Linn.