Poster #239 - Parent-Child Interaction and Children’s Learning from a Coding Application

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Technology, Media & Child Development

Integrative Statement

The increase in mobile game use by young children begs the question of whether children can learn from such media, and how they influence development. Research suggests that children can learn educational concepts from well-designed apps, including foundational science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts (e.g., Alade et al., 2016). Parents may be important for promoting children’s STEM learning from touchscreens, as parent responsiveness can promote learning from other media (e.g., Lauricella, Barr, & Calvert, 2014). However, little research has explored how parents and children use STEM apps together for learning, and whether parent-child interactions differ compared to traditional STEM activities.

We observed parents and their children playing with magnetic-tile blocks and a coding app (PBS Kids Scratch Jr) together for ten minutes, respectively. Thirty-one children aged 4.5 to 5.0 years (16 girls, 15 boys, Mage = 4.67 years) and one of their parents (27 women, 4 men, Mage = 36.42 years) participated in the repeated measures study. Parent-child responsiveness (i.e., mutuality, engagement, involvement, turn-taking; see Lauricella et al., 2014) was measured in both sessions, and parent-child interactions during coding app play were coded for spatial language, question-asking, and task-relevancy. After coding app play, children’s learning was measured by testing children’s production and comprehension of game-related coding skills.

Repeated measures ANOVAs show that parents were eager and active partners during both types of play, demonstrating high levels of parent responsiveness across conditions. As a result, there were no differences in parent responsiveness during magnetic-tile play compared to coding app play (ps>.05). To investigate how parent-child interaction during coding app play affects children’s learning, we ran a linear regression analysis to predict children’s learning scores using proportion of dyad (i.e., both parent and child) spatial talk, question-asking, and task-relevant talk during coding play entered as predictors and child age and parent education entered as control variables. This regression was significant, R=.64, adjusted R2=.41, F(4, 30) = 3.51, p<.05. Child age, parent education, and dyad spatial talk were not significant predictors of children’s learning. Task-relevant talk was a positive predictor of children’s learning (β=.50, p<.01). Surprisingly, question-asking was a negative predictor of children’s learning (β = -.33, p<.05). We ran two additional regressions predicting children’s learning using parent- and child-specific interactions as predictors. The parent-specific regression was trending toward significance, R=.55, adjusted R2=.31, F(4, 30) = 2.24, p=.08. Again, task-relevant talk was a positive predictor of children’s learning (β = .36, p<.05). The child-specific regression was not significant (p=.25).

The results suggest that children can learn coding skills from an interactive app and shed light on how parents can promote children’s learning. Specifically, helping children focus their attention and stay “on task” may be especially important for children’s learning from touchscreens. Moreover, we found that parent-child responsiveness was high in both mediated and traditional STEM contexts, suggesting both can offer rich opportunities for STEM learning. With more research, we can better understand how children learn best from STEM apps, as well as other challenges and strengths of parent-child co-using touchscreens for learning.

Authors

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

• Sarah Pila, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Alexis Lauricella, Erikson Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ellen Wartella, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author