[MATHLINK] MCLS Online March 2 -- Children’s math engagement: Exploring cognitive, contextual, and family influences

[MCLS Trainee]

Dear MCLS Community,

Please be sure to join us for our next symposium *“Children’s math
engagement: Exploring cognitive, contextual, and family influences**”*
*tomorrow
Tuesday, March 2 at 9am EST // 2pm GMT.* We're excited to hear from Mary
DePascale (University of Maryland, College Park, USA), Marjorie Schaeffer
(St. Mary’s College, USA), Dawn Short (Abertay University, Scotland), and
Andrew Ribner (University of Pittsburgh, USA)! See below for an abstract.

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MCLS Trainee is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: MCLS Online Symposium March 2
Time: Mar 2, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2258337242?pwd=eVhxaXhuSm96dHFKSWRQL1hWMDJFZz09

Meeting ID: 225 833 7242
Passcode: MCLS2020b
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Keep your eyes out later today for the opening of conference submissions
for MCLS 2021!

Finally, be sure to mark your calendars for our upcoming events:
*Thursday, March 11 (11am EST) *- Insights into predictors and correlates
of proportional reasoning
*Tuesday, March 16 (9 am EST) *- Cross-representational knowledge:
Connecting fractions and decimals
*Thursday, March 25 (11am EST) *- Principle knowledge in mathematics: its
development, cognitive predictors, and potential interventions

Thanks!
The MCLS Training Board

*Abstract*
Math knowledge in early childhood is predictive of academic and
mathematical achievement through adolescence (Watts et al, 2014. From a
young age, children’s engagement in math relates to their math learning
(Bodovski & Farkas, 2007; Hofer, Farran, & Cummings, 2013). Many factors
including parent input and teacher’s beliefs are known to relate to
children’s learning, and it is likely that these factors also impact
children’s engagement in math. Understanding the influences on children’s
math engagement, and subsequent impacts on their math ability, is important
for promoting children’s math development in early childhood. This
symposium will examine multiple factors influencing children’s engagement
in math (DePascale, Schaeffer) as well as the impact of engagement in math
at home and school on children’s math abilities (Ribner, Short).

First, Mary DePascale (Doctoral Student, University of Maryland, College
Park, USA) explores the role of children’s Spontaneous Focus on Number
(SFON) and math ability on children’s math talk during play with a parent.
Results indicate that children’s SFON relates to their math ability, but
only math ability relates to children’s use of number words during play.
This suggests that children’s own cognitive abilities influence the way
they engage in math play.

Second, Marjorie Schaeffer (Assistant Professor, St. Mary’s College, USA)
will present a study on how pressure and math anxiety impact family math
engagement for families of first grade children. Results show that math
anxiety and pressure both impacted performance on a math homework
assignment. This suggests that both contextual and socioemotional factors
influence children’s engagement and performance in math.

Third, Dawn Short (Doctoral Student, Abertay University, Scotland) will
present on the impact of math attitudes on children’s math attainment. Math
attitudes were measured in children as well as in children’s teachers and
caregivers at two time points. Findings show that children’s attainment in
math did not relate to their own or adults’ math attitudes at time 1, even
when attitudes towards math were negative. This suggests that the influence
of adult attitudes on children’s math attitudes and performance may vary
over time.

Finally, Andrew Ribner (Postdoctoral Associate, University of Pittsburgh,
USA) examines the impact of a longitudinal, home-based training study on
4-year-old children’s math performance. Findings highlight the importance
of parent-child engagement in math activities, as parent-child math board
game play increased children’s math performance, whereas children with
parents in the parent-only math training condition showed negative effects,
resulting from decreases in parent math engagement with children.

Together, the studies presented demonstrate the influence of individual,
home, and school factors on young children’s math engagement, with
implications for increasing children’s engagement and performance in math.