Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UC Irvine

UC Irvine Previously Published Works bannerUC Irvine

The influence of home environmental factors on kindergarten childrens addition strategy use.

Abstract

Young children vary widely in their levels of math knowledge, their abilities to solve math problems, and the strategies they use to solve math problems. As much of later math builds on childrens early understanding of basic math facts and problem-solving strategies, understanding influences on childrens early problem solving is important. Few studies, however, have examined the home environment in relation to childrens strategy use during arithmetic problems. We examined how both structural characteristics of childrens home environments, such as socioeconomic status (SES), as well as the learning environment, such as engagement in math and literacy activities at home, related to their use of problem-solving strategies for numerical addition problems. Kindergarten children from diverse backgrounds completed a measure of addition problem solving and strategy use, including simple and complex numerical problems. Strategies were coded based on a combination of accuracy and strategy sophistication, with higher scores indicating problems solved correctly with more sophisticated strategies. Parents completed a home activities questionnaire, reporting the frequency with which they and their child had engaged in math and literacy activities at home over the past month. An exploratory factor analysis identified three components of the home activities - a basic activities factor, an advanced math activities factor, and a literacy activities factor. Findings indicated that SES related to childrens strategy sophistication, and frequency of engaging in advanced math and literacy activities at home predicted strategy sophistication, however, engaging in activities at home did not moderate the relations between SES and strategy sophistication. This suggests that family engagement in activities at home may promote early arithmetic skills, and that the role of home environmental characteristics should be considered in childrens arithmetic strategy use and performance over development.

Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View