Investigating Effective Methods that Adults Use to Improve Children's Math Achievement in Informal Learning Environments: A Meta Analysis

该项目旨在探索包括父母和托儿服务提供者在内的成年人如何帮助儿童在非正式环境中更好地学习数学。为此，本研究将对非正式学习环境（如博物馆、图书馆和家庭）中使用的数学教学策略进行元分析。荟萃分析检查已发表的研究数据，密切关注研究结果的差异，并使用统计学来分析不同研究的结果。本荟萃分析将总结自1980年以来发表的有关数学教学的相关研究，重点是学龄前至三年级末的儿童。它还将侧重于数学学习主题，包括数字和运算、代数、几何、测量和数据分析。研究人员将包括来自同行评审的研究、会议提案、报告和论文的数据。在选择哪些研究应该包括在他们的分析中，研究人员将考虑使用的具体教学策略，研究的参与者，以及成年人接受的培训。该项目打算利用他们的分析来展示在非正式学习环境中有效的数学教学是什么样子的。这些信息可以为非正式学习环境中的幼儿提供最佳数学教学实践的见解。通过这种方式，它可以通过为研究人员，从业者，家长，托儿服务提供者，教师教育工作者的决策提供信息，从而使数学教育受益。在对文献和相关研究的收集进行全面回顾后，研究人员将对每个贡献研究进行方法、参与者和干预特征、研究质量和依赖测量类型的编码。研究人员还将对研究进行双重编码，以建立审稿人之间的协议，以确保审稿人之间编码程序的一致性。然后将使用随机效应元回归来综合标准化的平均差异效应大小，以确定总体平均效应，并评估可能解释观察到的效应变异性的编码调节因子。聚类稳健方差估计将用于解释从同一研究中收集的效应大小之间的依赖性。该项目有潜力通过以下方式对该领域做出独特的贡献：(a)回应最近关于非正式学习环境中数学干预的实证研究的上升趋势；(b)报告当前干预研究证据的质量，作为改进该领域未来研究的一种手段；(c)扩大利益相关者的知识基础，培训父母和托儿服务提供者实施有效的数学干预；(d)实施严格的研究计划和元分析技术。该项目由教育和人力资源核心研究（ECR）项目和促进竞争研究的既定项目（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is designed to explore how adults, including parents and childcare providers, can help children better learn mathematics in informal settings. To do so, this research study will conduct a meta-analysis of mathematics teaching strategies used in informal learning environments, such as museums, libraries, and the home. A meta-analysis examines published research data, paying close attention to differences in findings, and uses statistics to analyze the findings across different studies. This meta-analysis will summarize the relevant research about mathematics teaching that has been published since 1980, focusing on children in preschool to the end of third grade. It will also focus on mathematics learning topics of numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis. The researchers will include data from peer-reviewed research, conference proposals, reports, and dissertations. In choosing which research studies should be included in their analysis, the researchers will consider the specific teaching strategies used, the participants in the study, and the training that the adults received. The project intends use their analysis to show what effective mathematics teaching looks like in informal learning environments. This information can provide insights about best mathematics teaching practices for young children in informal learning environments. In this way, it can benefit mathematics education by informing the decision-making of researchers, practitioners, parents, childcare providers, teacher educators. After a thorough review of the literature and collection of relevant studies, the researchers will code each contributing study for methodological, participant, and intervention characteristics, study quality, and type of dependent measure. The researchers will also double code studies to establish inter-rater agreement to ensure consistency in coding procedures across reviewers. A random-effects meta-regression will then be used to synthesize standardized mean difference effect sizes to determine an overall average effect and evaluate coded moderators that may account for variability in the observed effects. Cluster robust variance estimation will be used to account for dependence between effect sizes collected from the same study. This project has the potential to make a unique contribution to the field by (a) responding to a recent upward trend of empirical research on mathematics interventions in informal learning environments; (b) reporting on the current quality of evidence of intervention studies as a means to improve future research studies in this area; (c) broadening stakeholders’ knowledge base regarding training parents and childcare providers to implement effective mathematics interventions; and (d) implementing a rigorous research plan and meta-analytic techniques. This project is jointly funded by the Education and Human Resource Core Research (ECR) Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.