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Survey Study (Study 1. 2021-2023)
Abstract
Parents vary substantially in the frequency and complexity of the math support that they provide to their children, and this variability is often related to their children’s math knowledge. We hypothesized that parents' knowledge about the development of two critical early math topics would help explain some of this variability in their early math support. First, we developed a measure of parents’ knowledge about early numeracy and patterning development across five studies conducted with a total of 616 U.S. parents of 3- to 5-year-olds (66% mothers, 54% sons, 73% White, 60% college-educated) children. Overall, the newly developed measures satisfied standards for the development of an adequate measure and can be used to better understand what parents know about early math development and how this relates to the HME that they facilitate. Next, a subset of these parents 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 196 mothers and 148 fathers, 94% identified as the child’s primary caregiver and 77% as White; 79% had at least a bachelor’s degree) reported on their knowledge about the development of early numeracy and repeating patterning skills, numeracy and repeating patterning beliefs related to their children, numeracy and repeating patterning support, and education and income via a survey. Parents’ knowledge about early repeating patterning development was positively related to all the measured child-specific repeating patterning beliefs and was predictive of both the frequency and complexity of their reported repeating patterning support. Their knowledge about early numeracy development was also positively related to most of their child-specific numeracy beliefs but was not a unique predictor of their reported numeracy support. Parents’ knowledge about early numeracy and repeating patterning development was not consistently related to their education or income, but their education uniquely predicted their numeracy and repeating patterning support. Implications of these findings for research, theory, and parent-based interventions are discussed in the published paper.
Materials
- Parent Survey
Info Session Study (Study 2. 2021-2023)
The goal of this study was to evaluate the malleability of parents’ knowledge about patterning and numeracy development and the effect of increasing parents’ knowledge has on parents’ patterning and numeracy beliefs and support. Data collection started in Summer 2022.
Materials
Summary
At the completion of the study, a letter was sent home with parents and teachers to provide a summary of our findings. The letter can be found here.
Interview Study (Study 3. 2022-2023)
Abstract
The purpose of the interview study was to identify culturally sensitive ways parents can further mathematize their everyday lives to increase their support of their children’s patterning and numeracy development. We surveyed and interviewed 13 parents of preschoolers who identified as Black or African American. Parents reported on their child-specific and general numeracy and patterning beliefs as well as their demographics via a brief survey. During the interview, parents were asked to describe their conceptualization of math, a typical day in their life with their preschooler, when and how they support their preschooler’s math at home, and to brainstorm ways they can incorporate math talk into their everyday life. Eligible parents who participated in Study 2 were invited to participate and to help recruit additional parents to participate in the interview study by sharing the study flyer and sign-up form.
Materials