The home numeracy environment is an essential construct that helps explain children's numeracy skills. However, this field has been developed mostly focusing on monolingual English-speaking families, and cultural differences that contextualize the home environment have not been considered. This study describes the home numeracy environment of…

In this article, the authors discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the way one project communicated with children, parents, and teachers. The authors describe how they developed Science Gateways out of the need to handle the limitations of the Science Open Doors program that was developed prior to COVID-19. Science Gateways serves…

Background: The literature suggests that educators can use parent-educator communication to support parents with engaging their children in home learning activities (Epstein, 1995; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). Objective: This study examines the relations between parent-educator communication and preschoolers' numeracy, literacy, executive…

We explore the potential of merging numeracy and literacy, through using number stories to stimulate mathematical engagement with young, marginalized learners in their communities. Our data emerges from the Family Maths Storytime Programme (FMSP) run in partnership with teachers in two South African schools. The FMSP conducted sessions with…

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for practical teaching within the sciences. While many instructors adopted innovative alternatives to conventional practicals, many relied on digital approaches that did not give students hands-on experience. In this study we evaluate the use of 'at home' practical kits used in first year physics…

This article illustrates several types of at-home science experiences that could be incorporated during grades K-2 to provide enriching science experiences that are motivating for students without requiring exhaustive work and preparation. These activities are designed to augment science interest and enthusiasm of students in the classroom and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected U.S. schools since March 2020. K-12 schools have put in place various forms of remote learning to continue the education of students. In trying times like these, young students face unique unprecedented challenges. Often, they need parents' and/or guardians' supervision and guidance at home. How can…

Research has consistently highlighted the importance of promoting child-parent interactions. In this essay, we describe the development of MAKEngineering kits that provide collaborative learning experiences for children in Grades 2-6 to engage in engineering design tasks with members of their families in their home environment. First, we present…

In this paper, motivated in part by evidence that Swedish teachers are sceptical of parents' abilities to offer appropriate support, we present an exploratory investigation of the activities Swedish parents initiate to facilitate their year-one (first grade) children's learning of mathematics. Data, derived from 25 semi-structured interviews…

Home is one type of off-campus informal learning spaces (ILS). It is important to understand the behaviours of students who use home as ILS. Such information will enlighten universities to provide/improve proper on-campus ILS and/or other academic supports. This research used a quantitative approach through an online questionnaire survey during…

Despite the increasing use of virtual modalities in schools since the COVID-19 pandemic, no systematic tools exist to evaluate the process of online learning. We developed and validated an Online Learning Process Questionnaire (OLPQ) for assessing online at-home learning among 219 Hong Kong primary-school students and 474 caregivers. Exploratory…

By developing a relationship of trust and respect with children, educators create a classroom culture that supports questioning. One strategy to extend children's thinking is to provide unfamiliar materials to provoke questioning. This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. This month's column…

This paper proposes an ecological framework "Activities with Parents on the Computer" (APC) to bridge home and school contexts by involving parents and students in digital media based assignments. An exploratory case-study was conducted based on ten parent-child dyads that engaged in an APC at home. Attitudes were assessed through a…

Higher education learning and teaching methods have changed while most educational buildings are still rather traditional. Yet, there is an increasing interest in whether we can educate today's higher education students in yesterday's buildings. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by studying the learning space choices of higher education…

In a 5-year longitudinal study of typical literacy development (Grades 1-5 or 3-7), relationships were examined between (a) parental responses to questionnaires about home literacy activities and ratings of children's self-regulation at home, both completed annually by the same parent, and (b) children's reading and writing achievement assessed…