Abstract
This chapter reports on two initiatives that focused on improving parental understanding of contemporary mathematical practices as enacted in their child’s school and classroom. The first initiative entitled Engaging Families in Numeracy, commenced in 2009, and involved students from a variety of classes, in two different schools. The project was aimed at engaging parents in numeracy-related activities with their child at home on a regular, ongoing basis. Parents were initially surveyed in order to determine their knowledge and perceptions of how their child was taught numeracy and then invited to provide regular feedback on the activities their child engaged in at home. While parents were generally supportive of the programme, it was felt that there was still a lot of uncertainty about what actually happened in mathematics lessons at school. To address this, a second initiative, the ‘Maths Club’ was developed, whereby parent workshops were conducted by the author with a focus on familiarising parents with the mathematics curriculum, developing their own mathematical content knowledge, and providing them with opportunities to participate in classroom observation sessions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anthony, G., & Walshaw, M. (2007). Effective pedagogy in mathematics/Pangarau. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education.
Civil, M. (1998). Parents as resources for mathematical instruction. Adults learning maths—a research forum, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Civil, M. (2001). Redefining parental involvement: Parents as learners of mathematics. Paper presented at the NCTM research pre-session, April 2001, Orlando, FL.
Civil, M., Quintos, B., & Bernier, E. (2003, April). Parents as observers in the mathematics classroom: Establishing a dialogue between school and community. Paper presented at the NCTM research pre-session, San Antonio, TX.
Eastaway, R., & Askew, M. (2010). Maths for mums and dads. Great Britain: Square Peg.
Goos, M., & Jolly, L. (2004). Building partnerships with families and communities to support children’s numeracy learning. In I. Putt, R. Faragher, & M. McLean (Eds.), Mathematics education for the third millenium: Towards 2010 (Proceedings of the 27th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Townsville, pp. 279–286). Sydney: MERGA.
Groves, S., Mousley, J., & Forgasz, H. (2006). Primary Numeracy: A mapping, review and analysis of Australian research in numeracy learning at the primary school level. ACT: Canberra.
Haylock, D. (2007). Mathematics explained for primary teachers (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Moll, C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132–141.
Muir, T. (2009). At home with numeracy: Empowering parents to be active participants in their child’s numeracy development. In R. Hunter, B. Bicknell, & T. Burgess (Eds.), Crossing divides (Proceedings of the 32nd annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, pp. 395–402). Wellington, NZ: MERGA.
Muir, T. (2012a). Numeracy at home: Involving parents in mathematics education. International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Available: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/journal/muir.pdf.
Muir, T. (2012b). It’s in the bag: Parental involvement in a numeracy at-home program. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(2), 106–112.
Muir, T. (2016). Out of the classroom, into the home. Teaching Children Mathematics, 22(8), 497–504.
Muller, D. (2006). Family-school partnerships project. Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia.
Orman, S. A. (2000). Mathematics backpacks: Making the home-school connection. In D. Edge (Ed.), Involving families in school mathematics (pp. 51–53). Reston, VA: NCTM.
Peressini, D. D. (1998). The portrayal of parents in the school mathematics reform literature: Locating the context for parental involvement. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 29(5), 555–583.
Pritchard, R. (2004). Investigating parental attitudes and beliefs in mathematics education. In I. Putt, R. Faragher, & M. McLean (Eds.), Mathematics education for the third millennium: Towards 2010 (Proceedings of the 27th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Townsville, pp. 478–485). Sydney: MERGA.
Sheldon, S. B., & Epstein, J. L. (2005). Involvement counts: Family and community partnerships and mathematics achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 98(4), 196–206.
Vincent, J., Stephens, M., & Steinle, V. (2005). Numeracy research and development initiative 2001-2004. Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix: Numeracy at Home Feedback Sheet
Appendix: Numeracy at Home Feedback Sheet
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Muir, T. (2018). Using Mathematics to Forge Connections Between Home and School. In: Kinnear, V., Lai, M., Muir, T. (eds) Forging Connections in Early Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Early Mathematics Learning and Development. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7153-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7153-9_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7151-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7153-9
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)