The Factor Structure of the Early Home Science Environment

• In Event: The Home Learning Environment: Where Are We Now?

Abstract

Introduction: Emerging work has demonstrated that parents’ engagement in science activities with their children at home (i.e., the home science environment [HSE]) is related to their children’s performance in science (Junge et al., 2021; Westerberg et al., 2022). However, the few studies that have examined the early HSE have measured it different ways; thus, there is little understanding or consensus regarding what the HSE is comprised of. Some studies have measured the HSE using primarily resource-based measures (e.g., usage of science-related books; Gerde et al., 2021; Korpan et al., 1997) while other work has used interaction-based measures (e.g., talk about the weather; Westerberg et al., 2022). In addition, HSE surveys have almost exclusively been designed to measure families’ engagement with science content (i.e., disciplinary core idea [DCI] engagement) and not families’ inquiry-based exploration (e.g., science and engineering practice [SEP] engagement; Westerberg et al., 2022). However, it is important home science scales measure SEP engagement as these practices have been identified as a key dimension of young children’s developing science knowledge (French, 2004). Only one study to date has examined the factor structure of the HSE to determine if it could be parsed into DCI- and SEP-based factors of engagement and found that these were distinct dimensions of the HSE (Westerberg et al., 2022). However, there were several limitations with the items used to tap SEP engagement (e.g., few items, exclusion of important SEPs). The present study extends this work by building out additional items to measure SEP engagement, and by incorporating both resource-based and interaction-based items. In addition, this study aimed to replicate the factor structure of the HSE.

Method: Participants included 722 parents (468 mothers) of preschool- and kindergarten-aged children. Approximately 78.80% of the parents were White, 8.59% were Latine, 6.23% were Black, and 6.37% identified as “Other.” Parents completed a 20-item HSE questionnaire that included questions pertaining to home DCI engagement (e.g., “Talk about insects”), SEP engagement (e.g., “Share discoveries or findings with others”), and included both interaction-based (e.g., “Talk about plants”) and resource-based (e.g., “Watch television shows about science”) items. Parents were asked rate how often they engaged in each of the items over the past month and responses were recorded on a five-point Likert scale ranging from never (1) to multiple times a day (6).

Results: First, a two-factor model was examined in which all of the items corresponding to engagement with science concepts were loaded onto a home DCI factor and all of the items corresponding to inquiry practices were loaded onto a home SEP factor. Following this, the two-factor model was compared to a one-factor model in which all items were loaded onto a single HSE factor. Model fit indices are presented in Table 1. Results indicated that the two-factor model with distinct home DCI and SEP factors was the better-fitting model (Δχ2(1)=504.62, p<.001).

Conclusion: These findings contribute to a growing literature on the HSE and provide further support that DCIs and SEPs are distinct factors of home science engagement. Implications for future research and HSE measurement will be discussed.

Authors

• Lauren Westerberg, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Alexa Ellis, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

• Sara Anne Schmitt, University of Oregon

• Sarah H. Eason, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette