Mathematical reasoning skills of children ages 60-71 months: The predictive power of parents' participation in mathematical activities and mathematics beliefs

In this study examined the relationship between 60-71-month-old children's mathematical reasoning skills and their parents' participation in mathematical activities and their beliefs about mathematics, and whether children's mathematical reasoning skills and their parents' participation in mathematical activities and their beliefs about mathematics differ significantly by sociodemographic characteristics. The study group of the research consists of 150 children and their mothers, 60-71 months old, studying in four independent kindergartens in the city center of Erzincan in the 2022-2023 academic year. In the study, the Mathematical Reasoning Skills Assessment Tool was applied to the children, and the General Information Form and the Early Mathematics Scale were applied to the mothers. In the analysis of the data, the results of the socio-demographic characteristics of the children and mothers were reported with the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U test. Correlation analysis was used to test the relationship between children's mathematical reasoning skills and their parents' participation in mathematical activities and mathematical beliefs, and regression analysis was used to test the effect of parents' participation in mathematical activities and mathematical beliefs on children's mathematical reasoning skills. According to the results of the study, age and duration of preschool education made a significant difference in children's mathematical reasoning skills, although gender and birth order were not. It was determined that while education level and the number of children created a significant difference on the participation of mothers in mathematics activities, age did not have a significant effect. It was concluded that while age and education level created a significant difference on mothers' mathematics beliefs, the number of children was not a significant variable. A positive and low level association was discovered between the data analysis-probability sub-dimension and the total score of mathematical reasoning, engagement in mathematics activities, and belief in mathematics. However, it was determined that participation in mathematics activities and belief in mathematics were not significant predictors of mathematical reasoning skills.