Poster #26 - Caregiver-Child Interaction Influences Causal Learning in a Structured Play Setting

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

There has been an increasing interest in the efficacy of pedagogical practices that rely on direct instruction versus those that incorporate large amounts of free, unstructured play (e.g., Riley & Jones, 2010; Saracho & Spodek, 1995; Singer, Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2006; Whitebread, Coltman, Jameson, & Lander, 2009). Much of this work has focused on curricula design and learning outcomes in formal educational settings. Additionally, laboratory-based work has explored the influence of pedagogy on children’s exploratory behavior (Bonawitz et al., 2011). An open question is how pedagogy in informal settings influences children’s learning.
To fill this gap, we investigated how different pedagogical practices influence both children’s exploratory behaviors and learning outcomes in the informal setting of parent-child interactions. Moreover, we focused on children’s acquisition of causal structure as previous work has found parent-child interactions to be key in the development of children’s causal reasoning abilities (Callanan & Oakes, 1992). We presented parent-child dyads at a children’s museum (N= 66, Child age range = 36.00-59.90 months) with an unfamiliar causal structure (a novel machine that activates when blocks are placed on it, and a set of multi-colored blocks, see Figure). We observed dyads as they played with these stimuli with the goal of uncovering the underlying causal structure (i.e., certain colors were more predictive of activation than others). We then asked a set of questions testing children’s understanding of the efficacy of each color, and we measured the amount of time dyads spent playing to operationalize children’s engagement with the activity.
During dyads’ play, parents’ pedagogical styles were categorized based on whether parents were more directive, collaborated equally with their children, or assumed a hands-off approach and allowed children to explore independently. We found a significant main effect of pedagogical style on the test questions, Wald 2(2, N = 66) = 10.17, p = .006. Children whose parents were more directive learned the causal structure significantly better than the other two groups of children,  = -0.89, SE = 0.28, 95% CI = [-1.44, -0.34], Wald 2(1, N = 66) = 10.17, p = .001.
We also analyzed the length of time dyads played, which revealed a significant effect of parent-child interaction style, Wald 2(2, N = 66) = 6.77 p = .037. When parents were more collaborative, children tended to explore the stimuli for significantly longer than the children of parents who were more directive or hands-off,  = .14, SE = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.25], Wald 2(1, N = 66) = 6.03, p = .014.
We find that pedagogical styles influenced children’s exploratory behavior and learning outcomes. Our results also suggest that the pedagogical styles that elicit more extensive exploration by children are not necessarily those that promote the best learning. Direct instruction might have led to the greatest learning outcomes, but collaboration led to the most engagement. Future work can continue to investigate the connection between children’s exploration and learning, and how these processes are unique in the context of parent-child interactions and other informal learning environments.

Authors

• Carol Medina, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• David Sobel, Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author