Abstract
Recent meta-analyses have demonstrated a significant association between children’s early math achievement and their experiences with math at home, including their caregivers’ talk about math. However, few studies have investigated the relations between caregiver math talk and children’s learning with experimental designs. Eighty-six children (M = 5.0 years) and their caregivers were randomly assigned to play either a numeracy or a shape card game at home for six weeks. Data were collected on children’s number and shape knowledge and families’ math talk during gameplay. There was substantial participant attrition (42% did not return completed materials), however, both an intent-to-treat analysis of the sample that received study materials and a subgroup analysis of study completers showed that children who played the shape game significantly improved their shape naming and matching skills relative to children who played the number game. Children who played the number game did not significantly improve their numerical skills relative to children who played the shape game. Mathematical talk during gameplay varied between families but was correlated over time within families. Caregivers’ and children’s talk about matching cards by shape or color predicted children’s learning from the shape game. The results suggest that despite receiving uniform instructions and materials, there was significant variability in children’s home math experiences that predicted their learning from the card game.
Highlights
Supporting children’s mathematical development is key to sustaining the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields
Few studies have investigated the relations between caregiver math talk and children’s learning with experimental designs
The goal of the present study was to ask whether children who were randomly assigned to play a mathematical card game at home for six weeks showed improvements in their mathematical skills, to characterize the mathematical talk they heard and produced during gameplay, and to test whether variability in mathematical talk during gameplay related to children’s learning from the games
Summary
Supporting children’s mathematical development is key to sustaining the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Mathematical proficiency at school entry predicts later achievement in secondary school [1], which in turn may act as a gateway to post-secondary education, STEM degrees, and STEM careers [2]. The significant variability in children’s mathematics skills at school entry points to the role of the home learning environment in early skill acquisition [3–6]. Recent reviews have found that caregivers’ attitudes towards math, talk about math in the home, and provision of math activities in the home are associated with children’s early mathematics achievement [3,7–9]. Most previous studies on the relation between children’s home math experiences and their math skills are correlational in design, leaving open the possibility of other confounding factors underlying the association. The goal of the present study is to describe the variability in the home mathematics engagement observed in an experimental intervention and examine whether differences relate to children’s learning
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