Parental Support of Children’s Early Mathematics Learning

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Children’s mathematics skills at school entry robustly predict later achievement (Duncan et al., 2007). Yet, our understanding of how these early differences in math skills develop is limited. This symposium is comprised of four complementary papers on this topic, seeking to identify how child gender, cultural and linguistic background, and parent child dyadic characteristics contribute to individual differences in the development of math skills.

The first paper examines gender differences in children’s block play with their parents with results indicating that while boys and girls heard similar levels of spatial utterances per minute, boys engaged in block play for longer and therefore heard more spatial talk overall compared to girls. The second paper examines math and spatial talk and gestures among Spanish-speaking and Spanish-English Latine bilingual parents and their preschoolers, finding variability within and between language groups and evidence that caregivers’ math talk, but not spatial talk, was significantly related to children’s geometry skills. The third paper examines math talk among Spanish-speaking and Spanish-English bilingual parents and children finding that boys heard and produced more math language than girls and a high proportion of concrete math language was associated with lower math abilities. The fourth paper examines mother-daughter dyadic behaviors when solving addition problems, with latent profile analysis identifying three profiles that showed differential relations with children’s later arithmetic skills and strategy use.

Together, these papers examine how parents support math learning, how this support varies between children and families, and the types of support that predict children’s math achievement.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chairs

• Caitlin S Lombardi, University of Connecticut

• Colleen Uscianowski, University of Cincinnati

Individual Presentations

• Sex Differences in Parental Spatial Language During Block Play: Higher Quantity for Boys Explained by Length of Play - Presenting Author: Madeleine Oswald, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Lori Petersen, Purdue University Northwest; Non-Presenting Author: Susan Cohen Levine, University of Chicago

• Latine Caregivers' Spatial Language and Children's Early Math Skills - Presenting Author: Verónica Mesalles, New York University; Non-Presenting Author: Maria Fernanda Ahumada, University College London; Non-Presenting Author: Gigliana Melzi, New York University

• Latino Parents’ Support of Young Children’s Math Learning at Home - Presenting Author: Colleen Uscianowski, University of Cincinnati; Non-Presenting Author: Maria Marti Castaner, University of Copenhagen; Non-Presenting Author: Kelsey Repka, Yeshiva University

• Examining Mother-Daughter Dyads Jointly Solving Addition Problems: A Person-Centered Approach - Presenting Author: Caitlin S Lombardi, University of Connecticut; Non-Presenting Author: Martha B. Bronson, Boston College (retired); Non-Presenting Author: Lindsey Caola, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Elizabeth Pezaris, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Beth M Casey, Boston College