1-064 - Family Engagement in Early Mathematics Learning

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Growing evidence suggests that the math skills children develop before entering elementary school are highly predictive of later academic achievement, not just in math, but in literacy as well (Duncan et al, 2007; Shoenfeld & Stipek, 2011). Moreover, a recent review of research suggests that family engagement offers much potential for promoting young children’s math skills (Van Voorhis, Maier, Epstein & Lloyd, 2013). Yet, compared with early literacy, links between family engagement in early mathematics and children’s achievement is both an understudied phenomenon and an underutilized practice in early childhood classrooms and family homes. This symposium will bring together researchers at the intersection of family engagement and early math to highlight the existing knowledge base about the kinds of parent-child and family-school interactions that promote math attainment, the barriers parents and early childhood educators face in making math an intentional part of their conversations with one another and with children, and specific interventions for supporting family engagement in early math. In introductory comments, the session will be framed using a literature review – recently completed by one of the session chairs -- on the types of parent-child and family-school interactions that promote math learning during early childhood. In turn, two papers will address specific home activities and parenting behaviors that support early math and two papers will address interventions aimed at supporting family engagement in early math.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chairs

• Michelle F. Maier, N/A

• Eric Dearing, Boston College

Individual Presentations

• Maternal Supportive Interactions on a Joint Spatial Problem-Solving Task and Their Young Daughters' Spatial and Arithmetic Skills - Presenting Author: Beth M Casey, Boston College; Eric Dearing, Boston College

• The Role of Parents in Young Children’s Math Learning: Cognitive and Emotional Factors - Presenting Author: Susan Cohen Levine, University of Chicago; Elizabeth A Gunderson, Temple University; Erin Maloney, The University of Chicago; Gerardo Ramirez, University of California, Los Angeles; Sian Beilock, University of Chicago

• Latina Mothers as Resources for Early Mathematics Education - Presenting Author: Marta Civil, Univ of Arizona

• JUMP and SPIN: A Case Study of Early Math and Science Learning - Presenting Author: Kathy Nakagawa, Arizona State University; Emily Earl, University of Arizona; Martha Cocchiarella, Arizona State University; Angela Arzubiaga, Arizona State University