About this session

Saturday, 12:10 PM - 1:40 PM

Family Engagement and Digital Interventions in Early Math Development: Insights from Diverse and Underrepresented Populations

Family engagement is essential to fostering early math development (e.g., LeFevre et al., 2010; Ramani et al., 2015). Although interventions have been designed to promote family engagement (e.g., Braham et al., 2018; Eason & Ramani, 2020), research often overlooks cultural knowledge and distinctive characteristics of diverse families. Additionally, with technology increasingly integrated into educational interventions, there is a growing need to explore the mechanisms behind these digital approaches and their effectiveness in early math learning. This symposium presents three empirical studies that address these gaps, focusing on underrepresented populations. Through both quantitative and qualitative methods, the studies reveal how diverse family contexts and technology shape children’s early math experiences with implications for research, practice, and policy.
The first paper examines parent-child interactions during digital and analog toy play activities, revealing how digital interventions may reduce SES-related disparities in math input and interaction quality. The second paper examines the affordances of home-visitation programs, highlighting the cultural funds of knowledge that emerge from racially/ethnically minoritized military families, which can be leveraged to strengthen teacher-parent relationships and inform math instruction design. The third paper evaluates a virtual family math program designed for low-income Latine families, demonstrating how multimedia resources and collaborative activities enhance parental support for math learning and children’s math skills.
These studies emphasize the need for tailored interventions that address the unique characteristics of diverse families. By showcasing both challenges and strengths of underrepresented populations, this symposium offers critical insights for designing effective, family-centered practices to support early math development across varied contexts.

Paper #1
Title	Leveraging Digital Tools to Support Parent-Child Math Interactions: Insights from a SES-Diverse Sample
Presenting author	Linxi Lu, M.Ed., Ph.D., The University of Chicago, United States

Paper #2
Title	Seeing Math Within Family Routines: Parent Child Interactions During Preschool Affordance for Math Instruction
Presenting author	Daniela Alvarez-Vargas, University of Denver, United States

Paper #3
Title	Engaging Families Through Informal Math Learning: Evaluating the Impact of a Virtual Family Math Program
Presenting author	Susana Beltrán-Grimm, Portland State University, United states

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Session chair
Linxi Lu, M.Ed., Ph.D., The University of Chicago, United States

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