Home Learning Environment of Young Children and Their Caregivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of children and families unprecedently. Children and families were asked to stay at home and protect themselves from the risks of the virus.
As a result of school campus closures, children’s immediate learning environment has shifted from schools to homes, adding additional education responsibility to caregivers. During early childhood years, the home environment is one of the immediate environments in which children have interactions with others (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Caregivers meet children's physical and emotional needs and provide them with various educational and commercial materials and experiences for their development and learning during that time. The home learning environment is briefly described as a combination of quality parent-child interactions, availability of learning materials, and children's participation in learning activities at home (Niklas & Schneider, 2017; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2017).

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore PreK-3rd grade children’s home learning environment, and caregivers’ perceptions, strategies, and attitudes toward home learning during the confinement in the Spring of 2020. This multiple case study was guided by Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory and Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Vygotsky, 1978). Ten caregivers and their PreK-3rd grade children were recruited through purposeful and snowballing sampling. Data were collected virtually via an online survey, caregiver and child interviews, and photographic evidence of the home learning environment and children's daily schedules. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Research data were analyzed through a grounded theory approach (through open, axial, and selective coding), and the inter-coder reliability was obtained. Descriptive survey data and the document analyses were used to understand children’s home learning environments.

Five female and five male students and their caregivers were the participants of the study. The majority of the participants were White (seven parents and six children), and the caregivers had at least a bachelor’s degree. Students’ grade levels varied in the study (preschool=1, kindergarten=2, first grade=1, second grade=4, and third grade=2). All students owned a room (either individual or shared room), books, and at least a digital device available at home (computer, tablet, gaming system). Findings indicated that most caregivers supported children’s learning and technology use by supervising children’s daily progress and locating desks and learning materials in designated areas of living and dining rooms. More than half of the caregivers reported difficulties teaching for their children, so they benefitted from online resources to learn educational strategies and provide children enrichment activities. Caregivers emphasized learning mainly on mathematics and language arts, and scaffolded children’s learning in those subject areas. Most children enjoyed staying at home and completed tasks required by their caregivers and teachers, even though they reported missing schools, friends, and teachers. This study's findings deepened our limited understanding of the home learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic from both parents' and children’s perspectives, illuminating possible pathways to improve learning at home.

Authors

• Burcu Izci, Florida Gulf Coast University
  Presenting Author

• Shiyi Chen, University of Idaho
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rachel Geesa, Ball State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hyuksoon Song, Georgian Court University
  Non-Presenting Author