The Effects of Explicit Timing on Mathematics Performance in Second-Grade Caucasian and African American Students

This experiment was conducted to investigate and compare the effects of explicit timing on mathematics problem completion rates in African American and Caucasian second-grade students. During explicit liming, students were told they were being timed and instructed to circle the last problem completed at each I -minute interval. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that both African American and Caucasian second-grade students increased their problem completion rates when explicit timing procedures were implemented, but no significant cross-group differences were found in the increase in problem completion rates or problem accuracy. Although some have suggested that African American students have different learning styles, which are related to their conceptualization of time, this study showed that an explicit timing procedure was equally effective for increasing problem completion rates among African American and Caucasian students. Discussion focuses on applied and theoretical implications of culture-treatment interactions.