How Do American And Japanese Mothers Help Their Preschool Children Learn Mathematics?
The purpose of this study was to examine how American and Japanese mothers help their 4-year-old children learn mathematics. The study focused on several issues: mothers’ reported engagement in mathematics learning activities at home; mothers’ beliefs about mathematics learning; and mothers’ attempts to teach children informal and formal mathematics. Particular attention was paid to the different ways in which mothers approach informal and formal mathematics, and to possible differences between the approaches of American and Japanese mothers. The subjects were 39 mother-child dyads from New York City (n=20) and Tokyo (n=19). All mothers were given questionnaires inquiring into daily activities involving both informal and formal mathematics and into beliefs concerning the teaching and learning of mathematics. All dyads were also observed during a series of tasks in which mothers were asked to teach their children about several mathematical tasks. The mother-child interactions were video
