2-137 - A Broader Look at Parents' Early Informal Math Support

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Preschoolers' mathematics knowledge develops early, varies substantially, and can be supported by parents during everyday informal interactions. Most research has focused on how parents' numeracy support (e.g., number talk and home numeracy activities) contributes to children's numeracy development (Skwarchuk et al., 2014; Zippert & Rittle-Johnson, in press). However, broader perspectives suggest that a range of non-numeracy skills are critical to mathematical cognition (Mix & Cheng, 2012; Nguyen et al., 2016; Rittle-Johnson, Fyfe, Loehr, & Miller, 2015), and may require different types of parental support. Thus, this symposium investigates different ways in which parents support a wide array of early math skills in the context of playful home experiences.

The first paper compares observed parental numeracy, spatial, and pattern support, and explores how each type of support is linked concurrently and longitudinally to broad math outcomes (numeracy, spatial, and patterning skills and general math knowledge). The second paper describes an experimental study on the effectiveness of playing different mathematical card games with parents in improving preschoolers' numeracy and geometric skills. The third paper investigates the relations between home numeracy activities and children's mathematical language (quantitative and spatial) and numeracy skills, showing the broader benefits of home numeracy activities. The fourth paper examines a different type of parent math support– parents' motivational praise – during spatial activities, finding that fathers' use of process praise predicts children's later math achievement and spatial skill. Together, these studies illustrate how parents can contribute in different ways to a broader range of preschool children’s math-relevant skills.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chairs

• Erica L Zippert, Vanderbilt university

• Nicole Scalise, University of Maryland, College Park

Individual Presentations

• Parents' Broad Math Support Concurrently and Longitudinally Predicts Preschoolers' Broad Math Knowledge and Skills - Presenting Author: Erica L Zippert, Vanderbilt university; Non-Presenting Author: Michele R Smith, University of Washington; Non-Presenting Author: Bethany Rittle-Johnson, Vanderbilt University

• Playing Card Games with Parents Supports Children's Early Mathematical Skills - Presenting Author: Nicole Scalise, University of Maryland, College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Claire McCown, West Virginia University; Non-Presenting Author: Geetha Ramani, University of Maryland

• The Home Numeracy Environments' Association with Early Numeracy and Math Language Skills - Presenting Author: Yemimah King, Purdue University; Non-Presenting Author: David Purpura, Purdue University

• Parent Praise During Spatial Tasks: Mothers, Fathers, and Longitudinal Relations to Math and Spatial Skills - Presenting Author: Kexin Ren, Temple University; Non-Presenting Author: Nora S. Newcombe, Temple University; Non-Presenting Author: Elizabeth Gunderson, Temple University