Elementary School Children’s Home Learning Environments: Mathematics, Reading, Science, and Written Language

Abstract

It is well accepted that the home learning environment impacts school performance; however, much of the previous research has focused on preschool children. This exploratory study used an online, Qualtrics survey to ask parents (N = 177) of elementary students about the home learning environment. Our research questions addressed (1) the amount of time children spend on mathematics, reading, written language, and science at home, and differences by subject and/or grade; (2) parental beliefs about the importance of engaging in home learning activities in each of the four subjects; (3) parental confidence in supporting each of the four academic subjects; (4) parental and child enjoyment of the four academic subjects; and (5) who (parents, child, or teacher) initiated home learning activities in the different subject areas. The results indicated that elementary school-age children were engaged in reading, mathematics, science, and written language activities at home; however, the most time was spent on reading activities. Parents reported viewing engagement and assistance with academically related activities at home as important; however, they were more confident assisting with reading and written language than mathematics or science. Strong associations were noted between parental enjoyment of a subject and their confidence in assisting their child. Overall, teachers initiated more activities for older children and were more likely to initiate mathematics activities. When children initiated an activity, it was typically reading related.

Factors contributing to learning losses among primary school children: a scoping review

“…Furthermore, only two articles were found in 2020 [25], [27], while there were seven articles [12], [19], [20], [22], [28], [29], [31] were found in 2021 in relation to parental involvement, mother tongue, distance learning, economic, socio-economic status, school closure, rotational timetabling schedules. As for 2022, five articles [17], [18], [23], [26], [30] were related to the topic of the study. In 2023, four articles were found [13], [14], [16], [21] that discuss teacher's support, teacher performance competencies, summer vacation, and parental involvement respectively.…”

“…Meanwhile, nine countries, namely India [25], Nigeria [24], Malaysia [27], United Kingdom [28], Canada [12], Pakistan [29], Finland [26], China [23], and Mexico [30] were recorded with one study for each country. Meanwhile, countries such as Turkey [16], [22] and the United States [13], [17] have conducted two studies for each country. [12] Canada Observation, Interview Parental involvement Aukerman and Aiello [13] United States Literature review Teacher's support Setyowati et al [14] Indonesia Clinical supervision model Teacher performance competencies Visser et al [15] South Africa…”

“…Stepwise multiple regression analysis Parental involvement Baş [16] Turkey Meta-analysis model Summer vacation Sonnenschein et al [17] United States Exploratory study Learning environment Mufti [18] Indonesia Semi-structured, online interview Parents' consideration of book selection Vos and Fouché [19] South Africa Non-empirical research, literature review…”

“…Meanwhile, two studies [23], [27] used a mixed-method research design. A total of n=5 studies [12], [14], [17], [25], [28] employed observation as instrument. In addition, n=8 studies [12], [17], [18], [20], [21], [24], [27], [30] used interviews and semi-structured interviews as part of the study pertaining to learning losses.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue “Mathematics Education: At Home and in the Classroom”

“…Elliott et al examined preschool engagement in literacy and numeracy. In contrast, Sonnenschein et al [10] investigated elementary school children's engagement in literacy, writing, mathematics, and science. In both studies, parents emphasized literacy/reading more than mathematics.…”