Unpacking the Home Math Environment: Examining Dimensionality and Selection Factors in Parent Surveys

• In Event: Division C Section 1C: Topics in Early Childhood Mathematics

Abstract

Many researchers have examined the home numeracy environment, but associations between the frequency of these activities and children’s math skills are not consistently observed and much of this work focuses exclusively on children’s numeracy development. Here, we examine dimensions of the home math environment and consider how these dimensions relate to background characteristics of families and to children’s number and spatial skills. We first conducted an exploratory factor analysis examining reported frequencies of 25 math-related and identified three factors representing informal numeracy, formal numeracy, and spatial activities. Distinct parent characteristics were associated with each home math factor. Further, informal numeracy was positively associated with children’s math skills, whereas associations with formal numeracy and spatial activities were nonsignificant or negative.

Authors

• Leanne Elliott, University of Pittsburgh

• Heather J. Bachman, University of Pittsburgh

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh

• Portia Miller, University of Pittsburgh

• Melissa Libertus, University of Pittsburgh