De Keyser Laure, Bakker Merel, Rathé Sanne, Wijns Nore, Torbeyns Joke, Verschaffel Lieven, De Smedt Bert
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Front Psychol. 2020 Dec 10;11:547626. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.547626. eCollection 2020.
Selecting a large and diverse sample of 5-6-year-old preschool children (179 boys and 174 girls; = 70.03 months, = 3.43), we aimed to extend previous findings on variability in children's home math environment (i.e., home math activities, parental expectations, and attitudes) and its association with children's mathematical skills. We operationalized mathematics in a broader way than in previous studies, by considering not only children's numerical skills but also their patterning skills as integral components of early mathematical development. We investigated the effects of children's gender and socioeconomic status (SES) on their home math environment, examined the associations between children's home math environment and their mathematical skills, and verified whether these associations were moderated by children's gender and/or SES. Parents of 353 children completed a home math environment questionnaire and all children completed measures of their numerical (e.g., object counting) and patterning skills (e.g., extending repeating patterns). Results indicated no effect of children's gender on their home math environment. There was no effect of SES on the performed home math activities, but small SES differences existed in parents' math-related expectations and their attitudes. We found no evidence for associations between children's home math environment and their mathematical skills. Furthermore, there were no moderating effects of gender or SES on these associations. One explanation for these findings might relate to the characteristics of the general preschool system in the country of the present study (Belgium). Future studies should consider the effect of the preschool learning environment because it might explain differences between studies and countries with regard to the home math environment and its association with mathematical skills.
我们选取了一个规模大且多样化的5至6岁学龄前儿童样本(179名男孩和174名女孩;平均年龄 = 70.03个月,标准差 = 3.43),旨在扩展先前关于儿童家庭数学环境(即家庭数学活动、父母期望和态度)的变异性及其与儿童数学技能之间关联的研究结果。我们对数学的操作化定义比以往研究更为宽泛,不仅将儿童的数字技能,还将他们的模式技能视为早期数学发展的重要组成部分。我们研究了儿童性别和社会经济地位(SES)对其家庭数学环境的影响,考察了儿童家庭数学环境与其数学技能之间的关联,并验证了这些关联是否受到儿童性别和/或SES的调节。353名儿童的家长完成了一份家庭数学环境问卷,所有儿童都完成了数字(如物体计数)和模式技能(如扩展重复模式)的测试。结果表明,儿童性别对其家庭数学环境没有影响。SES对所开展的家庭数学活动没有影响,但在家长与数学相关的期望和态度方面存在较小的SES差异。我们没有发现儿童家庭数学环境与其数学技能之间存在关联的证据。此外,性别或SES对这些关联没有调节作用。对这些结果的一种解释可能与本研究所在国家(比利时)的一般学前教育系统的特点有关。未来的研究应考虑学前学习环境的影响,因为它可能解释不同研究和国家在家庭数学环境及其与数学技能关联方面的差异。