Early Childhood Mathematics Skill Development in the Home Environment

This volume presents current research on the connections between the home and family environment on children’s mathematics development. Focusing on infancy through first grade, it details the role of parents and other caregivers in promoting numeracy and the ways their active participation can prepare young children for learning about formal mathematics. Research data answer key questions regarding the development of numeracy alongside cognitive and linguistic skills, early acquisition of specific math skills, and numeracy of children with atypical language skills. The book also provides practical recommendations for parents and other caregivers as well as implications for future research studies and curriculum design.

Included in the coverage:

• Ways to optimize home numeracy environments.
• Individual differences in numerical abilities.
• Cross-cultural comparisons and ways to scaffold young children's mathematical skills.
• Mathematics and language in the home environment.
• Center-based and family-based child care.
• Games and home numeracy practice.

Early Childhood Mathematics Skill Development in the Home Environment is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students, and professionals in infancy and early childhood development, child and school psychology, early childhood education, social work, mathematics education, and educational psychology.

Belinda Blevins-Knabe, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981. Her research interests include young children’s mathematical development and the influence of the home numeracy environment on the development of early mathematics skills and concepts. She is also interested in faculty development for teaching and learning and the development of leadership skills in women.

Ann M. Berghout Austin, Ph.D., is Professor of Family, Consumer, and Human Development and Director of the Center for Women and Gender at Utah State University. She received her Ph.D. in Child Development from Iowa State University in 1981. Her research interests include children’s development of early mathematics concepts in out-of-home care, child care quality, and child development and mothering in developing countries. She is also interested in the development of leadership skills in girls and women.