Poster #60 - Understanding Parent-Child Interactions While Using Mathematical Activities Through a Qualitative Process

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

Children who enter a formal setting with a deficit in mathematics carry this deficit throughout their schooling (Galindo & Sonnenschein, 2015), and an early understanding of mathematical language is foundational for later mathematical understanding (Jamison, 2000). This poster will present the qualitative results of an intervention study that examines what parents are currently doing to support numeracy in their home.
Forty families with children ages three to five years old participated in a single group pretest-posttest study where hands-on mathematical activities were sent home each week for fifteen weeks. Activities for this study were designed by a researcher with expertise in early childhood numeracy, and they were balanced across National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) content areas – numbers and operations, data analysis, geometry, and classification/comparison and patterning (pre-algebra skills). Parents were given the reasoning behind each activity’s concepts as well as instructions on how to complete the activity as intended. Furthermore, parents were provided with an easier version if the activity proved too difficult, and a challenge version if the activity was too easy. Additionally, an ‘around the house’ section provided ideas for how parents could continue to expand on these concepts even after the materials were returned for the intervention. The activities are specifically designed to embody purposeful play in the context of mathematics (Lee & Kotsopoulos, 2016). Researchers designed a short survey for parents to answer about the activities that are sent home weekly. This survey measures the amount of time spent with the activity, whether or not the parents and children enjoyed the activity, and offered an open-ended option for parents to offer comments.
The comments are currently being coded by the authors under three themes and fifteen sub-themes for positive, neutral, and negative commentary. The overarching themes are 1) Child, with the sub-themes of interest, behavior, academics, and emotion; 2) Activity, with the sub-themes of materials, too easy, too hard, time spent, suggestions/changes needed, and parental lack of understanding; and, 3) Engagement, with the sub-themes of used activity/materials as intended, wanted to use activity repeatedly, used activity in multiple different ways, generalized activity around the house/in the world, and time spent interacting as a family. To date, the researchers have coded two-thirds of the comments at 86% reliability and will complete the coding in October 2022. Once the coding is complete, the coded comments will be compared to the actual amount of time the parents and children spent using the activity, along with their like or dislike of the activity.
This project will provide valuable data about enhancing early numeracy in the home through parent-child interaction while using quality mathematical activities and resources. This information will inform the field of early childhood education as well as pave the way for a larger and more diverse study evaluating the impact of parenting and the home environment on early numeracy.

Authors

• Kristina Nicole Higgins, Tarleton State University

• Andrea Savkovic

• Jane Garrison

• Heather A. Labansat, Tarleton State University
  Presenting Author