How do Families of Young Children Use Science Media? Findings From a Nationally Representative Survey

• In Event: 2-216 - What have we learned from Ready To Learn?

Integrative Statement

For decades, U.S. policymakers have touted student science achievement as critical to U.S. innovation and economic competitiveness (America COMPETES Act, 2007; U.S. Department of Education, 2015). Yet while research suggests that disparities in science knowledge start early and widen over time (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier & Maczuga, 2016), elementary science instructional time has declined (Blank, 2013).

Media can help children learn science content under certain conditions (Schroeder & Kirkorian, 2017). Currently, young children are exposed to more than two hours of screen time a day, on average (Rideout, 2017). To better understand media’s potential to support science learning, this RTL-funded study explores how families with young children use and think about science media.

Method
Data are drawn from a national telephone survey of 1,442 parents with at least one three- to six-year-old child living at home. The survey oversampled parents living in economically disadvantaged communities; 909 of 1,442 families (63%) had an annual household income of $50,000 or less. We report frequencies and logistic regressions, applying sampling weights to account for the probability of selection.

Results
RQ1: What science media do parents report that their young children use, and how often?
Most parents said their children use science websites (71%) or TV shows/videos (66%) daily or weekly; 45% said their children use science games/apps daily or weekly. Parent reports of their children’s past-month usage of science TV shows/videos and websites were comparable to parent reports of usage of educational TV shows/videos and websites in general (Figure 1). Parents were less likely to report that their child used science games/apps in the past month, compared to educational games/apps in general.

RQ2: To what extent are parental attitudes associated with children’s use of science media?
Parents are more likely to report that their children use science media at least weekly if they (see Table 1):
• Frequently engage (weekly or more) in non-media-based science activities with their child.
• Feel very confident helping their child learn science skills.
• Believe that it is more important to help their child learn science than other subjects.
• Believe that their child has learned “a lot” from media in general.
• Believe that their child has learned “a lot” of science from media.

RQ3: How do parents and children interact around science media?
Among parents whose child had used science media in the past month, the most common daily or weekly interactions were watching/playing with their child (29%), helping their child access and play with media (31%), and talking about connections to the child’s daily life (34%). Less common daily/weekly interactions were explaining or talking about media (16%), encouraging or complimenting the child (7%), and monitoring viewing and playing (6%).

Conclusion
Science media regularly reach young children and can supplement formal science education; most children regularly watch science TV and videos. We recommend supporting parents by raising awareness of quality early childhood science apps/games, providing suggestions to build conversations connecting science media to daily life, and suggesting science media as an easy on-ramp for parents who are less inclined toward science.

Authors

• Claire Christensen, SRI Education
  Presenting Author

• Megan Silander, Center for Children and Technology EDC
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Gerard, SRI Education
  Non-Presenting Author