The home math environment and math achievement: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

Mathematical thinking is in high demand in the global market, but approximately 6 percent of school-age children across the globe experience math difficulties (Shalev et al., 2000). The home math environment (HME), which includes all math-related activities, attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and utterances in the home, may be associated with children’s math development. To examine the relation between the HME and children’s math abilities, a preregistered meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the average weighted correlation coefficient (r) between the HME and children’s math achievement and how potential moderators (i.e., assessment, study, and sample features) might contribute to study heterogeneity. A multilevel correlated effects model using 631 effect sizes from 64 quantitative studies comprising 68 independent samples found a positive, statistically significant average weighted correlation of r = .13 (SE = .02, p < .001). Our combined sensitivity analyses showed that the present findings were robust and that the sample of studies has evidential value. A number of assessment, study, and sample characteristics contributed to study heterogeneity, showing that no single feature of HME research was driving the large between-study differences found for the association between the HME and children’s math achievement. These findings indicate that children’s environments and interactions related to their learning are supported in the specific context of math learning. Our results also show that the HME represents a setting in which children learn about math through social interactions with their caregivers (Vygotsky, 1978) and what they learn depends on the influence of many levels of environmental input (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and the specificity of input children receive (Bornstein, 2002).

Individual differences in mathematical cognition: a Bert's eye view

“…This is not surprising, because the assessment of mathematical vocabulary likely overlaps with the mathematical knowledge that was also measured by the mathematics achievement tests. The association with the home mathematics environment [7] was very small and different from all other variables. Apart from the possibility that the impact of the home mathematics environment might be minimal, this could be explained by home-numeracy measurement issues or a potential time-limited role of the home environment, which might only be prominent before the start of school.…”

“…One way to classify each of these variables is along the often used distinction between domain-specific factors (Table 1) and domain-general factors (Table 2). Domain-specific (or mathematical) factors are variables that are specific for learning in a particular domain, in this case mathematics, and these variables include numerical magnitude processing [2,3], mathematical vocabulary [4], mathematics anxiety [5,6] and the home mathematics environment [7]. Domaingeneral (or non-mathematical) factors are variables that are important for learning more broadly and that subserve various academic outcomes, that is they are not specific for learning in a particular domain, for which reason they are considered to be more general.…”

Deal Me in: Playing Cards in the Home to Learn Math

“…Recent meta-analyses have demonstrated a significant association between children's early math achievement and their experiences with math at home, including their caregivers' talk about math [7,9]. However, few studies have investigated the relations between caregiver math talk and children's learning with experimental designs.…”

“…The HME has been previously measured by parent report of frequency of engagement in activities at home as well as by direct observation, and measures of HME vary in the range of aspects examined (e.g., types of activities, talk, attitudes) [9,10]. Overall, findings from recent meta-analyses and systematic reviews show that there is variability in the HME across families and that the HME positively relates to children's math performance [3,7,9].…”

“…Yet the significant variability in children's mathematics skills at school entry points to the role of the home learning environment in early skill acquisition [3][4][5][6]. Indeed, recent reviews have found that caregivers' attitudes towards math, talk about math in the home, and provision of math activities in the home are associated with children's early mathematics achievement [3,[7][8][9]. However, most previous studies on the relation between children's home math experiences and their math skills are correlational in design, leaving open the possibility of other confounding factors underlying the association.…”