Home science interactions and their relation to children’s science core knowledge in preschool

Westerberg, Lauren; Schmitt, Sara A.; Eason, Sarah H.; Purpura, David J.

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105473

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover, the current findings regarding children’s retention of STEM information support further consideration of whether STEM learning promoted by oral storytelling transfers across settings—for example, from home to museum, and museum to home. Past work does suggest that STEM learning at home is related to STEM learning in school settings (e.g., Skwarchuk et al, 2014 ; Junge et al, 2021 ; Westerberg et al, 2022 ). Less is known about how learning in museums transfers beyond museum walls, but the work that does exist (e.g., Marcus et al, 2017 , 2021 ) recommends this is a promising avenue for future work.…”

Section: Limitations Implications and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting children’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning at home through tinkering and storytelling

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined whether connecting storytelling and tinkering can advance early STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning opportunities for children. A total of 62 families with 4- to 10-year-old (M = 8.03) children were observed via Zoom. They watched a video invitation to tinker at home prepared by museum educators prior to tinkering. Then, half of the families were prompted to think up a story before tinkering (story-based tinkering group), whereas the other half were simply asked to begin tinkering (no-story group). Once they had finished tinkering, researchers elicited children’s reflections about their tinkering experience. A subset of the families (n = 45) also reminisced about their tinkering experience several weeks later. The story instructions provided before tinkering engendered children’s storytelling during tinkering and when reflecting on the experience. Children in the story-based tinkering group also talked the most about STEM both during tinkering, and subsequently when reminiscing with their parents about their tinkering experience.

show abstract

Section: Limitations Implications and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting children’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning at home through tinkering and storytelling

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, we consider the broader home science environment, including access to science-related materials and experiences provided by parents ( Westerberg et al, 2022 ). Empirical research has already linked other specific aspects of the early home learning environment with corresponding domain-specific achievements, such as reading literacy ( Sénéchal and LeFevre, 2002 ; Rodriguez and Tamis-LeMonda, 2011 ) and math ( Hart et al, 2016 ; Napoli and Purpura, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting grade school scientific literacy from aspects of the early home science environment

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fostering scientific literacy has become an increasingly salient goal as evidence accumulates regarding the early emergence of foundational skills and knowledge in this domain, as well as their relation to long-term success and engagement. Despite the potential that the home context has for nurturing early scientific literacy, research specifying its role has been limited. In this longitudinal study, we examined associations between children’s early science-related experiences at home and their subsequent scientific literacy. Following on our previous work, we specifically considered parent causal-explanatory talk, as well as the degree to which parents facilitate access to science-related materials and experiences. A group of 153 children from diverse backgrounds were evaluated across 5 annual waves of data collection from preschool entry (Mage = 3.41) through first grade (Mage = 7.92). Results demonstrate that parent invitations for children to explain causal phenomena had strong concurrent relations to scientific literacy but showed little relation to subsequent literacy. In contrast, the broader home science environment at preschool entry, particularly in the form of exposure to science-related activities, predicted scientific literacy over the next 4 years. The directionality and specificity of these relations were clarified through the inclusion of measures of cognitive and broader home experiences as controls in regression analyses. Overall, our investigation revealed that exposure to science-related input provided by parents has particularly powerful potential for shaping scientific literacy when children are very young. Implications for parent-focused interventions that promote science literacy are discussed.

show abstract

“…Similar results have been shown regarding science learning as well. One recent study demonstrated that preschool aged children who were exposed to science interactions and learning opportunities in the home, including both science content and engineering practice, demonstrated higher levels of science core knowledge ( Westerberg et al, 2022 ). Similarly, Junge et al (2021) found that parental engagement in science-related activities is associated with preschool children’s science knowledge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting caregiver involvement at the public library: An evaluation of a math and science storytime program for young children

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionPublic libraries are asset institutions that provide important spaces for families to engage in meaningful, authentic STEM learning. However, limited budgets and a model centered on open-access and broad inclusion makes conducting rigorous evaluations in these spaces, such as randomized control trials, challenging. There is a need to consider evaluation designs that consider both rigor and feasibility. The aims of the present study were to: (1) describe an innovative interactive parent–child interactive storytime program, Fun with Math and Science (FMS); and (2) conduct a preliminary evaluation of FMS in a large, urban public library setting, using a quasi-experimental static group comparison design.Methods and ResultsPost-test scores for caregivers who completed the program in the fall or winter (n = 80) were compared to pre-test scores for caregivers who completed the program the following spring (n = 35); Fall/winter caregivers scored higher on program items related to concrete behaviors to support math and science learning, but significant differences were not found on items related to caregiving beliefs or general caregiving practices. Demographic differences were also found related to program outcomes.DiscussionResults are discussed both in terms of implications for the development and implementation of caregiver-child interactive programming, as well as the use of innovative analytic approaches to program evaluation in community settings.

show abstract

Home science interactions and their relation to children’s science core knowledge in preschool

Cited by 5 publications

References 67 publications

Promoting children’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning at home through tinkering and storytelling

Promoting children’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning at home through tinkering and storytelling

Predicting grade school scientific literacy from aspects of the early home science environment

Promoting caregiver involvement at the public library: An evaluation of a math and science storytime program for young children

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About