US Caregivers’ Perception of Learning in Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Teaching strategies such as pedagogy, exploration, and scaffolding have been studied in relation to children’s learning. However, despite caregivers’ pivotal role in early learning, it is unknown whether caregivers consider these strategies beneficial for children’s everyday learning. Little is known about what US caregivers perceive their children are learning and how that might relate to their parenting styles. To understand how US caregivers conceptualize their children’s learning, we surveyed 76 caregivers of 2- to 5-year-olds (Mean age: 3.97 years) in the US about their perception of their children’s early learning, including what their children were learning and how they believed children were learning each task. We categorized each listed learning task as Academic (e.g., counting), Motor (e.g., riding a bike), Milestone (e.g., potty training), and Socio-Emotional (e.g., sharing). Caregivers chose the method by which children learned each task: teaching, observing another person, working independently, or working with others. Caregivers also specified who was involved in each learning task (caregiver, another adult, another child, teacher, electronics, and books). In addition, we asked caregivers to describe their parenting style. We then coded styles into one of three categories: Hands-on (involved in parenting, take the lead in children’s learning), Hands-off (relaxed, laid back, and letting children lead their learning), and Balanced (letting children lead their learning and offering guidance when necessary).

Results showed that caregivers perceived learning as closely related to academic learning, with most learning occurring through instruction. Out of all learning tasks caregivers listed, 67.1% were Academic, and 43.7% of the chosen learning methods was teaching (see Figure 1). When caregivers listed that their child learned through being taught, the caregivers reported that they did the teaching 42.1% of the time. Thus, caregivers believed that they were highly involved in their children’s academic learning. In contrast with this seemingly hands-on approach to learning, 46.4% of caregivers listed that they had a Hands-off parenting style, letting children lead the learning (see Figure 2). These findings indicated that surprisingly, while US caregivers tended to report that they were involved in young children’s learning, they were less involved in the parenting process. Analyses are ongoing to test relations between caregivers’ backgrounds and their perception of children’s learning to better understand whether these factors influenced caregivers’ understanding of early learning. Future studies should investigate caregivers’ teaching behaviors and their perception of early child learning, which would be meaningful in understanding the correlation between teaching behaviors and caregiver’s perception of early learning.

Authors

• Yirou Fang, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Natalie Brezack, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Woodward, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author