Poster #86 - The Effects of Parent Confidence on Preschool Children’s Informal STEM Activities and Media use

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Preschool children’s informal learning of science and math is imperative to their interest and later achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math fields (e.g., Watts, Duncan, Siegler, & Davis-Kean, 2014). Before children enter formal schooling, parents play a critical role in exposing children to science and math learning opportunities. Despite the prominent role parents play in their children’s early STEM education, many parents and practitioners can feel uneasy about supporting math and science concepts for preschool-aged children (Maloney, Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2015; Early, et al., 2007). Parent confidence around science and math may affect whether they engage their children in informal science and math activities, including what types of tools they use with their children to support learning.

There is a lacuna of research on how parents engage their young children in informal science and math learning and how parent confidence affects parents’ use of digital learning tools to support their children’s learning. To address this, this study used a sequential mixed methods design to investigate the larger context around how parents engage their preschool-aged children in informal science and math learning. The first phase consisted of semi-structured, in-person interviews with 12 parents of preschoolers, followed by a second phase comprised of an online survey of 187 parents of preschoolers. Because media use (e.g., television, apps, computer games) has become ubiquitous in the lives of American children (Rideout, 2017) and could potentially be an important informal tool for STEM learning, we examined parents use of media as an informal educational activity.

Results from the survey and interviews indicate that parents are able to easily identify math activities that they do with their child like counting and playing board games, but struggle to spontaneously identify similar science activities without prompts. From the survey, we found that more than 80% of parents reported that they played with Lego or blocks, played puzzles, played at a water table, cooked or baked, interacted with animals or insects, or visited a museum with their child. We also found via interviews that all parents were similarly motivated to engage their children in STEM. Despite being similarly motivated, linear regression revealed that parent confidence in math and science – like knowing developmentally appropriate activities – predicted the number of informal science and math activities parents reported doing with their child. Finally, we found that parent confidence in science, but not math, was related to their use of science and math media with their children, which converges with parent responses during interviews in which they expressed struggling to identify science activities compared to math.

Considering that science learning opportunities are present everywhere, we hope this research also provides practitioners with insights that can help them empower parents to feel confident rather than unsure of how to provide their children with rich science learning opportunities. With more confidence in their abilities as their child’s first educator, parents will be better equipped to support their child’s development of foundational science and math skills.

Authors

• Brianna Hightower, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Kelly Jean Sheehan, Age of Learning, Inc.
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alexis Lauricella, Erikson Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ellen Wartella, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author