Parents’ Experiences in Supporting Children's Math Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Abstract

Parents’ Experiences in Supporting Children's Math Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Parents’ math attitudes and math anxiety are antecedents to their children’s math attitudes and math anxiety. This, in turn, impacts children’s math achievement (Soni & Kumari, 2017). Given the additional stress parents are experiencing due to the current pandemic and the importance of children’s math learning for later achievement, we sought to provide a greater understanding of parents’ math experiences with their children during this time. Data were collected from 70 parents with 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade children, ages 6.5 to 10.83 (M = 8.82 years, SD = 0.97), as part of a larger project. Parents were surveyed about their own math self-efficacy and math anxiety, as well as their experiences supporting their children’s math learning and their perspectives on the unexpected shift the pandemic has created, as it relates to math learning. Preliminary findings suggest the majority of parents are spending more time helping with their children’s math homework now than before COVID-19, and parents’ math self-efficacy tended to be lower on average for those who indicated spending more time with math homework. Parents also tended to agree that it has been challenging to support their children’s online math learning. Furthermore, an analysis of open-ended responses indicated that (a) parents expressed concerns about their children being easily distracted at home, and often have difficulties with motivating their child to engage in math learning remotely and (b) parents believe their children's confidence levels pertaining to math are decreasing. Implications for researchers, educators, and practitioners will be discussed.

Authors

• Caroline Byrd Hornburg, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Shawnice Johnson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University