The Home Numeracy Environments' Association with Early Numeracy and Math Language Skills

• In Event: 2-137 - A Broader Look at Parents' Early Informal Math Support

Integrative Statement

Early math skills that children develop during the preschool years both at school and at home become the foundation for the acquisition of later mathematics skills (Blevins-Knabe, 2012; Hill, 2001; Kleemans, Peeters, Segers, & Verhoeven, 2012; LeFevre et al., 2009). A growing body of research has shown that the home numeracy environment (HNE), parent-child engagement in numeracy-related activities, predicts preschoolers' numeracy development (Blevins-Knabe & Musun-Miller, 1996; Kleemans et al., 2012; LeFevre et al., 2009). However, no published studies have investigated how the HNE is related to preschoolers' math language knowledge, which is highly related to numeracy development. As HNE interactions are often language based (Gunderson & Levine, 2011; Levine, Suriyakham, Rowe, Huttenlocher, & Gunderson, 2010; Susperreguy & Davis-Kean, 2016), and children's knowledge of math language is a strong predictor of their early numeracy skills (Purpura & Logan, 2015; Toll & Van Luit, 2014), direct and indirect HNE activities may be related to both concurrent and longitudinal numeracy skills and math language. The current study will address this gap by investigating how the direct HNE and indirect HNE are associated with concurrent and longitudinal early numeracy and math language skills.

Based on research findings that direct HNE activities are explicitly focused on teaching numeracy (e.g., counting objects; Gunderson & Levine, 2011; LeFevre et al., 2010; Manolitsis et al., 2013; Skwarchuk et al., 2014; Thompson et al., 2017) and indirect HNE activities are implicitly focused and more language based (e.g., talking about money; LeFevre et al., 2009; Skwarchuk et al., 2014), it was hypothesized that the direct HNE would related to numeracy skills and the indirect HNE would related to math language.

Participants included 125 preschool children (54% female) ranging from 3- to 5-years-old (M = 4.09) and their parents. Children were directly assessed on numeracy skills and math language (quantitative and spatial) at two time points (i.e., fall and spring) and parents completed an HNE questionnaire in the fall. Participants were 70% white, 9% Asian, and 21% other or multiracial and parents’ education ranged from having earned a GED to holding a graduate degree; 23% of parents had some college or less, 32% had an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree, and 45% had a graduate degree.

Results (see Table 3.1) indicated that the direct HNE longitudinally predicted spring numeracy (β = 1.38, p = .02), the indirect HNE longitudinally predicted spring numeracy (β = 1.24, p = .02), and the direct HNE was associated with fall math language (β = .64, p = .04). However, the direct HNE was not associated with fall numeracy (β = -.16, p = .73), the indirect HNE was not associated with fall numeracy (β = .27, p = .55), and the indirect HNE was not associated with fall math language (β = .42, p = .17). Additionally (see Table 3.2), the indirect HNE did not longitudinally predict spring math language (β = .06, p = .82) and neither did the direct HNE predict spring math language (β = .33, p = .27). Results suggest that parent-child engagement in direct numeracy activities are important for preschooler's concurrent math language knowledge and both engagement in indirect and direct numeracy activities are important for preschoolers' numeracy skills longitudinally.

Authors

• Yemimah King, Purdue University
  Presenting Author

• David Purpura, Purdue University
  Non-Presenting Author