About this session

Thursday, 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM

Family Math Engagement in Early Years: A Closer Look at Parent Beliefs Across Diverse Contexts

Children’s early math experiences are strong predictors of future math achievement, with parents' beliefs playing a key role in shaping how they support their children's learning and home math activities (Eason et al., 2022; Skwarchuk et al., 2022). This symposium focuses on the multifaceted nature of parents’ beliefs about children’s math learning and achievement, examining how personal and contextual experiences shape these beliefs. Four studies used qualitative and quantitative approaches with a variety of measures (e.g., interview, survey, and experiment), and diverse samples (including nationally represented samples, and racially/ethnically minoritized groups) in the United States to explore parents’ views of early math learning from preschool through elementary school and contextual factors that influence those beliefs. Study 1 explores a new measure for assessing beliefs about math achievement goals and examines how parents’ experience with math and school transitions informs their expectancy value for those goals. Study 2 compares parents’ perceptions of math homework, and formal and informal math activities, showing that parents’ perceptions about math learning and their involvement motivation vary based on activity contexts. Study 3 focuses on Indigenous Peruvian caregivers’ everyday math practices, revealing how the families integrate practical math learning into daily life and how their beliefs shape children’s math development. Study 4 explores how Black parents’ childhood math experiences influence their beliefs about preschoolers’ math learning. Collectively, these studies point to new directions in family math engagement during early childhood, highlighting the important role that parental math beliefs play in shaping children’s early math learning experiences.

Paper #1
Title	Relations Among Parents’ Experiences and Their Expectancy and Value for Children’s Math Achievement
Presenting author	Siqi Zhang, Purdue University, United States

Paper #2
Title	From Math Activities to Math Homework: Perceived Context Attributes and Parents’ Involvement
Presenting author	Jiawen Wu, University of Illinois At Urbana Champaign, United States

Paper #3
Title	Sapa Punchaw Yupay Yachay & Practicanapaq: Everyday Math Knowledge & Practice Among the Quechua Runa
Presenting author	Jessica Huancacuri, New York University, United States

Paper #4
Title	Exploring Black Parents' Values and Expectations for Their Preschoolers' Math Development
Presenting author	Ashli-Ann Douglas, WestEd, United States

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Session chairs
Dr. Sarah H. Eason, Ph.D., Purdue University, United States; Siqi Zhang, , United States

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