Families, Science, and Media: Results From a National Survey and Qualitative Study

• In Event: 28.029 - Young Children's STEM Learning From Media: The Important Role of Parent Scaffolds and Confidence

Abstract

This study pairs a nationally representative survey with a qualitative study to investigate parents’ perceptions of their role in children’s learning.
Introduction. Early science-learning experiences can support the development of a range of early academic and social skills in addition to science (Bustamante et al., 2017; Kuhn, 2011; Wright & Neumann, 2014). Parents and digital media represent key sources of science-related information and activities for young children (Funk et al., 2009). Yet little is known about how parents perceive their role in helping their children learn science, nor how they use media to do so. This work builds on existing surveys about the role of media in families’ learning at home (e.g., Rideout, 2014), by contextualizing media use within families’ broader learning activities and parental mediation of learning media. It also expands existing national surveys of parents’ support for literacy and mathematics learning at home (e.g., O’Donnell, 2008) to encompass science learning.

Method. We conducted a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,442 parents or guardians with at least one child aged 3–6 years living at home. The survey asked parents about their science learning beliefs and activities and children’s use of educational media. We gathered additional information via focus groups with 65 families with age-eligible children in three states, and home visits with 11 of these families.

Results. Parent confidence appears to differ for science compared to other content. Approximately three-fourths of parents reported feeling “very confident” in helping their young children with reading (74.7%), mathematics (72.6%), and social skills (70.8%). However, just over half of parents reported that they felt very confident in their ability to support learning science (54.3%).

Parents differed in the frequency of science learning activities as compared to other skills. Approximately 2 out of 3 parents reported reading books with their children every day but only about half of parents reported daily engagement in science activities such as exploring science in the outdoors. Qualitative findings indicate that for some parents, concerns about “not having all the right answers” contributed to their reticence to engage in science activities, as well as time required to prepare and clean up.

Almost all parents reported that their children used science media—TV/video, games, or websites—at least once in the past month. Although most parents reported monitoring their children’s media use (94.8%), fewer reported engaging in practices to support learning, such as talking about connections between the science media content and children’s daily experiences (69.2%).

Conclusion. Our findings suggest that interventions to build parents’ knowledge and confidence about science could help them engage their children in science activities more often and do so in ways that better support their learning. Young children use science-related media regularly and media resources have the potential to bring information on a large scale into homes and directly to children. However, parents need help finding these resources and understanding how best to use them with their children to support learning.

Authors

• Megan Silander, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Elisa B. Garcia, SRI International

• Todd Grindal, Abt Associates Inc.

• Naomi Hupert, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Kea Anderson, SRI International

• Philip J. Vahey, SRI International

• Shelley Pasnik, Education Development Center, Inc.