Promoting Math Talk in Adult–Child Interactions Through Grocery Store Signs

By Erinn Hanner, E. Braham, Leanne Elliott, Melissa E. Libertus. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2019

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There is a persistent gap in math abilities between children from low socioeconomic (SES) families compared to children from high-SES families. Interventions to reduce this gap are often expensive and not easily implemented. This study examined the efficacy of a cost-effective intervention in grocery stores in order to try and increase the number of math-related adult-child conversations to increase children’s school readiness. We created and placed signs about general language and math in grocery stores in a low-SES neighborhood and a high-SES neighborhood that encouraged conversations between adults and children while shopping. Researchers used observational coding methods to see how these signs naturally influenced conversations. When signs that contained prompts to engage in math conversations were present there was an overall increase in conversations about math compared to the general language signs or when no signs were posted. When signs were present in the low-SES location, there was an increase in conversations about math between adults and children, whereas the signs did not have this effect in the high-SES location. This study demonstrates the benefits of implementing a cost-effective intervention in a natural environment that could increase math conversations and school readiness in children, especially from low-SES families.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Statistics and Probability

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/02248cd334ee648f1920626ffc3fb1cf63e31302