An exploration into young children’s home mathematical environment during covid-19.

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

Due to covid-19 over one billion children have missed out on school, meaning for many children their only access to learning has been in the home (UNESCO, 2020). School closures of just ten days can have large effects on attainment, with mathematical attainment being most affected (Baker, 2013). However, we have limited understanding of what drives differences in the home learning environment during the pandemic. Prior work has indicated that home mathematical activities (HMA) are important for mathematics learning (Lefevre et al., 2009). The aim of the present study was to examine variation in HMA during Covid-19 and the predictors of this variation. The study focuses on young children as this is when foundational mathematical skills are rapidly developing and when there is greater reliance on adult guided learning.

Parents of children aged between three- and seven- years (N = 414) were recruited to complete an online survey. The survey contained questions on frequency of HMA (Cahoon, 2019) and time spent doing HMA in a typical week during Covid-19 pandemic. The survey also contained questions on five plausible predictors of variation in HMA: 1) parent beliefs about mathematics, 2) parent mathematical self-efficacy, 3) parent mathematical anxiety, 4) socioeconomic status (SES) and 5) difficulties and barriers parents may have experienced in supporting mathematical learning (Andrew et al., 2020).

There were three key findings from this study. The first key finding was there was large variation in the time spent doing HMA and in the frequency of HMA. The majority of parents (63%) reported an increase in HMA taking place during Covid-19. The second key finding related to explaining the variation in HMA during Covid-19. Parents who believed mathematics to be more important did a higher frequency of HMA with their children than parents who believed mathematics to be less important (r=.13**). Parents’ beliefs about the importance of incorporating mathematics into daily life was significantly correlated with both frequency of HMA (r=.42**) and hours spent doing HMA (r=.22**). Neither SES, parent self-efficacy nor parental mathematical anxiety were significantly correlated with frequency of HMA or time spent doing HMA. The third key finding of the study was about difficulties and barriers parents have faced to home mathematical learning during Covid-19. Parents who reported finding it more difficult to support their child’s mathematical learning reported spending less time doing HMA (r=.11*) and doing a lower frequency of HMA (r=.18**) than parents who reported finding it less difficult to support mathematical learning. A hierarchical regression revealed that after controlling for child’s age, SES and parent self-efficacy, parental beliefs about mathematics and the difficulty reported in supporting mathematical learning accounted for 30% of variance in the frequency of HMA.

The results demonstrate variation in home mathematical learning experiences during Covid-19 which may explain disparities in learning outcomes that may arise as a result of missing school due to Covid-19. The beliefs parents’ hold about mathematics and the difficulties they face in home mathematical learning appear to be important predictors of the extent to which they engaged in HMA.

Authors

• Ella James-Brabham, University of Sheffield
  Presenting Author

• Emma Blakey, University of Sheffield
  Non-Presenting Author