Engaging Fathers in Preschoolers' Math Learning in Informal Settings

Professor Zhang, Xiao   (Principal Investigator (PI))

Miss ZOU Xinzhuo   (Co-Investigator)

12

2024-06-30

117000

Engaging Fathers in Preschoolers' Math Learning in Informal Settings

fathers, family involvement, math learning, informal settings

PsychologyEducation

2303101364

Seed Fund for PI Research – Translational and Applied Research

2023

On-going

Math skills are crucial for success in the 21st century (National Research Council, 2013). Preschoolers’ math skills are not only the building block for their later success in the science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines (‘STEM’ disciplines; Parsons & Bynner, 2005), but are also associated with their reading performance (Duncan et al., 2007), peer relationships (Kiuru et al., 2013), and social-emotional competence (Lin et al., 2013). Therefore, it is crucial to facilitate children’s early math learning.Home math activities serve as a crucial way to promote preschoolers’ math skills. However, most prior studies exploring the connection between home math activities and preschoolers’ math skills are correlational in nature (Mues et al., 2022; Susperreguy et al., 2022). Only a few studies have designed home-based interventions promoting parents' math activities and evaluated their effectiveness in facilitating preschoolers’ math learning (Cheung et al., 2017; Niklas et al., 2016). All these studies have focused on mothers or parents as a whole and have not intervened in father-child math activities (Purpura et al.,2021; Sonnenschein et al., 2016). Nevertheless, promoting Chinese fathers’ involvement in children’s early education may be necessary. Although Chinese fathers’ involvement has been found to be positively connected to children’s academic performance (Tan et al., 2017; Xu & Li, 2019), the average frequency of paternal engagement in early education is relatively low (Gu, 2020).Moreover, most prior home math activities interventions have focused on game activities (Cheung et al., 2017; Ramani & Scalise, 2020) and ignored other types of math activities (e.g., math application activities in which parents engage children in learning math in informal everyday settings). However, the importance of fathers’ home math application activities in children’s math skills has been informed by both theories and correlational studies. Home math application activities refer to parents’ engagement in activities related to math with children in real-life settings, such as comparing prices when shopping and using calendars and dates. Theories of learning (Ausubel, 1968) and the realistic mathematics education approach (RME, Freudenthal, 1973) have supported the significance of math application activities. Specifically, Ausubel (1968) differentiated between rote learning (e.g., simply memorizing) and meaningful learning. Math application activities usually connect abstract math knowledge to children’s everyday lives and personally relevant experiences, which may promote meaningful learning and greater retention. Moreover, the math application activities align with the teaching principles of realistic mathematics education (Freudenthal, 1973). According to the activity principle, children are active learners in math learning activities and acquire math knowledge through a learning-by-doing approach. Theoretically, math application activities may promote children’s meaningful learning and active learning in math.Correlational studies also supported the significance of fathers’ math application activities. For example, the cross-sectional data of Huang, Zhang et al. (2017) showed a positive relation of father-child math application activities to preschoolers’ written arithmetic. Similarly, Liu, Zhang et al. (2019) reported a positive concurrent relation of father-child math application activities to a global measure of math skills. Mues et al. (2022) also found a positive concurrent relation between father-child everyday math activities (i.e., application activities) and children’s numerical skills. However, these studies were correlational in nature and did not allow for causal inferences. Experimental studies investigating the causal effect of fathers’ math application activities on children’s math skills are necessary.Moreover, although the previous literature has shown a positive relation between father-child math application activities and children’s math skills (Liu et al., 2019; Mues et al., 2022), the underlying mechanism of this relation is unclear. Two potential mediators (i.e., math interest as an affective mediator and mathematical language skills as a domain-specific language mediator) are considered.Math application activities may promote children’s math interest due to several reasons. First, Hidi and Renninger (2006) suggest that instructions including meaningful and personally relevant activities can trigger enhanced interest. Math application activities are often meaningful and personally relevant to children (Zhang et al., 2020). Second, Hidi and Renninger (2006) argue that the three basic psychological needs (i.e., ""competence"", ""autonomy"", and ""social relatedness"") identified in the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) can support children’s interest development. Children often have a great sense of autonomy when participating in number application activities (Eason & Ramani, 2020; Huang et al., 2021) since they have opportunities to actively manipulate learning materials (e.g., shopping items). In support of this, Cheung et al. (2018) and Ouyang et al. (2021) found that math application activities were positively related to children’s math interest. Moreover, when children’s math interest is high, they may deeply engage in and focus on math activities and spend a large amount of time in math learning, which benefits the development of their math skills (Doctoroff et al., 2016; Fisher et al., 2012). To summarize, previous research has suggested the potential role of math application activities in children’s math interest and has established the connection between children’s math interest and math skills. However, no research so far has examined whether math interest serves a mediating role in the connection between father-child math application activities and preschoolers’ math skills.Another potential mediator is children’s mathematical language skills, which refer to children’s capacities to understand and use terms that describe mathematical concepts or procedures (e.g., ""more,"" ""less,"" ""most"") (Purpura & Reid, 2016; Hebert & Powell, 2016). It is possible that math application activities influence children’s mathematical language skills. Math application activities provide plenty of opportunities for parents and children to interact around terms that describe mathematical concepts or procedures, which may promote children’s mathematical language skills. According to Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory, children develop their cognitive and language abilities through social interaction. Theoretically, during math application activities, the linguistic input from parents about terms that describe mathematical concepts or procedures may support children in developing their mathematical language skills. Empirical studies also showed diverse social interactions between parents and children around terms that described mathematical concepts or procedures during math application activities. For instance, Zou and Zhang (2022) found that parents used math language (""more"" or ""less"") with children during grocery shopping to compare quantities of shopping items. Moreover, children with better mathematical language skills can better understand terms relating to math concepts or procedures and, consequently, may perform better in math-related tasks (Hornburg et al., 2018; Purpura & Logan, 2015). To summarize, Previous research has indicated the potential role of math application activities in children’s mathematical language skills and have established connections between children’s mathematical language skills and math skills (for a review, see Turan & Smedt, 2022). However, no study has directly examined whether mathematical language skills mediate the connection between father-child math application activities and preschoolers’ math skills.To address these research gaps, the present study aims to design an intervention investigating whether increasing the frequency of father-child math application activities improves preschoolers’ math skills through enhancing their math interest and mathematical language skills.