The Home Learning Environment: Where Are We Now?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The home presents an important environment in which children’s earliest learning and development occurs (Martini & Sénéchal, 2012; Morrison, 2009; Pomerantz et al., 2007). Researchers have thus, studied the various ways the home environment promotes and fosters children’s early skill development. Previous work has focused on the Home Literacy Environment (HLE), the Home Mathematics Environment (HME), the Home Science Environment (HSE), and the Home Executive Function Environment (HEFE). However, the research behind each of these subdomains is at relatively different stages in construct development. Paper 1 presents cross-domain relations between the HLE and HME and children’s skill levels while also examining parental expectations. Paper 2 takes a mixed method, critical methodology approach to constructing a measure for the HME for Latine families. Paper 3 replicates and extends the factor structure of the HSE and builds out the two subdomain areas of science learning. Finally, Paper 4 examines the factor structure of the home learning environment with all areas of subdomains (HLE, HME, HSE, and HEFE) to determine whether these surveys represent one large learning environment or four separate subdomains. Findings from these studies are important to provide parents with specific recommendations to structure their children’s early learning environment and finalize specific implications for policy practices. Further, this symposium will present a space for researchers to determine the best conceptualization of the home learning environment and address the gaps in our knowledge and potential directions for future research.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Alexa Ellis, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

Individual Presentations

• Examining Associations Between Caregivers’ Educational Expectations, the Home Literacy and Numeracy Environments, and Preschoolers’ Achievement - Presenting Author: Nicholas Waters, Michigan State University; Lori E Skibbe, Michigan State University; Ryan Bowles, Michigan State University

• Building a Bridge between Measurement and Latine Families: The Case of the Home Numeracy Environment - Presenting Author: Jimena Cosso, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University

• The Factor Structure of the Early Home Science Environment - Presenting Author: Lauren Westerberg, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Alexa Ellis, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Sara Anne Schmitt, University of Oregon; Sarah H. Eason, Purdue University, West Lafayette; David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• A Preregistered Study Examining the Factor Structure of the Home Learning Environment - Presenting Author: Alexa Ellis, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Connor O'Rear, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Jimena Cosso, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette