Understanding Early Childhood Engineering Interest Development as a Family-Level Systems Phenomenon: Findings from the Head Start on Engineering Project

Pattison, Scott; Svarovsky, Gina Navoa; Ramos‐Montañez, Smirla; Gontan, Ivel; Weiss, Shannon; Núñez, Verónika; Corrie, Pam; Smith, Cynthia D.

doi:10.7771/2157-9288.1234

Cited by 24 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Although historically many scholars have argued that preschool children are not capable of exhibiting enduring, stable interests, research over the two decades has found that many young children do indeed develop domain‐specific interests that persist for months and even years (Alexander, Johnson, & Leibham, ; Leibham, Alexander, & Johnson, ; Neitzel, Alexander, & Johnson, ; Renninger & Su, ), including interests in science‐related topics and activities, such as birds, dinosaurs, mathematics, and more (Alexander et al, ; DeLoache, Simcock, & Macari, ; Fisher et al, ; Pattison et al, ). There is also growing evidence that these interests persist and have implications for children’s behavior and learning before and after they enter school.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early childhood science interest development: Variation in interest patterns and parent–child interactions among low‐income families

Pattison¹,

Dierking

2018

Science Education

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Fostering interest in science is critical for broadening engagement with science topics, careers, and hobbies.Research suggests that these interests begin to form as early as preschool and have long-term implications for participation and learning. However, scholars have only speculated on the processes that shape interest development at this age, when children's exposure to science primarily occurs during family-based learning experiences.Moving beyond speculation, we conducted a qualitative study with seven low-income mothers and their four-yearold daughters from Head Start to (a) develop a descriptive understanding of science-related interest development for preschool children from traditionally underserved communities and (b) identify differences across families that might explain the variation in children's interests. The study was conducted over 5 months and included two in-depth interviews and four videotaped sessions in which families engaged in science-related activities. Interviews suggested that children's science-related interests sparked by the sessions fell along a continuum, from focused interests specific to the materials provided during the sessions tobroad interests extending to more general topics and activity types. We also found important variation across families related to mothers' expression of affect, their involvement and leadership styles, and their approach to re-engaging children when they lost interest or changed focus. Science Education. 2019;103:362-388. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sce 362 |

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early childhood science interest development: Variation in interest patterns and parent–child interactions among low‐income families

Pattison¹,

Dierking

2018

Science Education

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“…A caregiver’s STEM talk, questioning and scaffolding for the child is another important factor for school readiness [ 34 , 42 , 65 ]. Several of the studies suggest that guidance for caregivers toward ISL activities can foster STEM skills in children [ 42 , 45 , 50 , 56 , 64 , 65 ]. A child’s interest in STEM can also influence school readiness [ 35 , 53 , 64 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several of the studies suggest that guidance for caregivers toward ISL activities can foster STEM skills in children [ 42 , 45 , 50 , 56 , 64 , 65 ]. A child’s interest in STEM can also influence school readiness [ 35 , 53 , 64 ]. Additionally, several studies explored caregivers’ beliefs about STEM learning and their own self-efficacy with STEM concepts as elements that influence children’s school readiness [ 42 , 44 , 45 , 56 , 64 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informal STEM Learning for Young Children: A Systematic Literature Review

Alexandre

Washington-Nortey

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Studies show that children spend considerable time engaged in informal learning outside of educational settings. Informal educational settings such as museums can provide a variety of opportunities to engage children in STEM learning and scientific discovery, which can increase school readiness. Research has also determined an achievement gap in students from low socio-economic backgrounds and in students who are dual language learners. The literature shows that this gap begins even before children enter formal schooling. This systematic review serves two purposes: to explore the impact of informal STEM learning (ISL) on school readiness and to examine the relationship between ISL and children’s social-emotional development, particularly in children who are dual language learners. Using PRISMA procedures, we identified 36 eligible studies in this systematic review. The findings illuminate the important role of parents and/or caregivers and the quality of design and interventions used at ISL sites, such as museums and zoos, on how ISL can impact school readiness for preschoolers. No research was found to specifically address the impact of ISL on school readiness for children who are dual language learners. The implications from the findings suggest that further research is needed on ISL for young children, particularly considering the dearth in research on young dual language learners. The implications further suggest that parents, ISL site designers, facilitators, and educators can benefit from learning about the impact of ISL on school readiness.

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“…In other words, it is unlikely that one year of pre-k education events and take-home activities provides sufficient, long-term experiences for families to develop broad and deep interest in informal STEM (NRC, 2009). Indeed, effective STEM approaches combine parent education with take-home activities over several grade levels (Kaderavek et al, 2020) or with multiple museum visits that provide unique settings for developing broad STEM interests (Pattison et al, 2020). Future studies should tease apart intensity issues as well as the extent to which step-by-step kits versus more open-ended materials for exploration and tinkering are beneficial (e.g., Acosta et al, 2021).…”

Section: Conditions That Best Supported Early Parent Involvement In Stemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acosta et al, 2021). It is possible that we EARLY PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN STEM 28 did not capture a full range of treatment effects in areas such as parent and child STEM interest, which are hypothesized to be important to long-term STEM career pathways (e.g., Pattison et al, 2020). In future research, we will measure these constructs and revise components of TT STEM to improve feasibility and parent uptake.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility of Behavior Change Techniques to Increase Parent Involvement in STEM ?with Young Children Experiencing Poverty

Zucker¹,

Yeomans-Maldonado²

2022

Preprint

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Broadening participation in early, informal STEM is important for families experiencing poverty. We explored the feasibility of the Teaching Together STEM preschool program for increasing home-based parent involvement and reducing barriers to informal STEM learning with 181 families at schools where 92% of students received free/reduced lunch. The core treatment included family engagement events and text messages; STEM events were delivered at school sites by museum-based informal science educators. We randomly assigned schools to business-as-usual or one of three additive treatment groups to evaluate adult behavior change techniques of adding materials and parent rewards to the core treatment. The primary outcome was parent involvement in STEM. There were no significant impacts of any treatment on home-based parent involvement in STEM; however, the groups that included take-home activity kits along with family education events/resources were the most promising way to get focal parents involved in doing science and math with their young child. Interestingly, the most intensive treatment group that added parent monetary rewards produced short-term improvements in parent involvement that faded at a later follow-up timepoint. We discuss the relative effects of different behavior change techniques and uptake of components, as this has implications for family engagement programs that aim to ensure equity when many parents have competing demands on their time.

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Understanding Early Childhood Engineering Interest Development as a Family-Level Systems Phenomenon: Findings from the Head Start on Engineering Project

Cited by 24 publications

References 76 publications

Early childhood science interest development: Variation in interest patterns and parent–child interactions among low‐income families

Early childhood science interest development: Variation in interest patterns and parent–child interactions among low‐income families

Informal STEM Learning for Young Children: A Systematic Literature Review

Feasibility of Behavior Change Techniques to Increase Parent Involvement in STEM ?with Young Children Experiencing Poverty

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