Developing STEM Achievement and Motivation: The Role of Spatial Skills and Parent-Child Interactions

STEM学习对于准备充分的劳动力至关重要，但许多学生没有发挥STEM的潜力。这些个体差异的根源可以追溯到学校入学。空间技能——在心理上表征和操纵空间信息——强烈地预示着STEM的成绩、课程选修和职业发展。到一年级时，孩子们的空间技能差异很大，这表明家庭环境起着至关重要的作用。这项由天普大学（Temple University）的一组研究人员领导的拟议研究将调查亲子互动对一年级和二年级学生空间技能的影响。重要的是，不仅是技能，还有动机——感知能力、享受挑战和低焦虑——都会影响儿童的STEM发展轨迹。不幸的是，关于父母对孩子STEM技能和动机的支持的研究是并行进行的，尽管有证据表明它们是相互加强的。先前的研究也受到短期结果、父母自我报告测量或非因果设计的限制。建议的研究将采用纵向和实验方法进行以下工作。1)确定亲子互动的具体方面，预测儿童的空间技能和STEM学习和动机。2)建立父母认知支持与儿童空间技能和动机之间的因果关系。3)建立父母动机支持与儿童空间技能和动机之间的因果关系。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）项目资助，该项目支持推进STEM学习基础研究文献的工作。本项目将实证检验父母对儿童空间技能和STEM成就的认知和动机支持的综合模型。研究1将使用NICHD早期儿童保育和青少年发展研究的视频数据来测试一年级空间活动中直接观察到的父母行为（认知和动机支持）是否能预测儿童到18岁时的STEM成就和动机。研究2a和2b将通过实验性的父母主导的空间阅读和空间活动干预来检验父母认知支持对儿童空间和数学技能和动机的因果影响。研究3将测试增加父母动机支持对儿童空间和数学技能和动机的影响。在一个单一的概念框架中调查这些因素对于了解它们对儿童的发展是否具有累加性或可能的乘法效应至关重要。例如，提供高动机支持的父母可能更适应孩子的技能水平，因此提供更高质量的认知支持。此外，同时获得认知和动机支持可能特别有效。总之，这些研究不仅将直接测试家长认知和动机支持的综合理论，而且还将为更大的家长指导干预奠定基础，旨在提高所有儿童的空间技能和STEM成就和动机。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

STEM learning is crucial for a well-prepared workforce, yet many students do not reach their potential in STEM. The roots of these individual differences can be traced back to school entry. Spatial skills - mentally representing and manipulating spatial information - strongly predict STEM achievement, course-taking, and careers. By 1st grade, children vary widely in spatial skills, pointing to the home environment's crucial role. The proposed research, led by a team of researchers at Temple University, will investigate the impact of parent-child interactions on spatial skills among 1st and 2nd graders. Importantly, not only skill but motivation- perceived competence, enjoyment of challenges, and low anxiety - impacts children's STEM trajectories. Unfortunately research on parents' support for children's STEM skills and motivation has proceeded in parallel, despite evidence that they reinforce one another. Prior research is also limited by short-term outcomes, parent self-report measures, or non-causal designs. The proposed studies will use longitudinal and experimental methods to 1carry out the following. 1) Identify specific aspects of parent-child interactions that predict children's spatial skills and STEM learning and motivation. 2) Establish causal relations between parents' cognitive support and children's spatial skills and motivation. 3) Establish causal relations between parents' motivational support and children's spatial skills and motivation. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning. This project will empirically test an integrated model of parents' cognitive and motivational support for children's spatial skills and STEM achievement. Study 1 will use video data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to test whether directly-observed parenting behaviors (cognitive and motivational support) during spatial activities in 1st grade predict children's STEM achievement and motivation through age 18. Studies 2a and 2b will test causal effects of parents' cognitive support on children's spatial and math skills and motivation via experimental parent-led spatial book-reading and spatial activity interventions. Study 3 will test the impact of increasing parents' motivational support on children's spatial and math skills and motivation. Investigating these factors in a single conceptual framework is crucial to understand whether they have additive, or possibly multiplicative, effects on children's development. For example, a parent who provides high motivational support may be more attuned to their child's level of skill, and therefore provide higher-quality cognitive support. Further, receiving both cognitive and motivational support may be especially impactful. Together, these studies will not only directly test the integrated theory of parents' cognitive and motivational support, but will have the added benefit of setting the foundation for larger parent-directed interventions aimed at improving all children's spatial skills and STEM achievement and motivation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.