Over-engaged parenting and science achievement in early childhood

获得科学知识和技能需要通过挑战来坚持，但在美国，父母介入并为孩子解决问题已经变得越来越普遍。这种过度投入的父母会导致学龄前儿童在不同社会经济背景下的小学阶段具有较低的持久性，较低的执行功能以及较差的阅读和数学成绩。然而，先前的工作留下了关于驱动过度参与的父母和儿童对此的反应的信念的重大理论和实践问题。我们的研究旨在通过检查过度参与的父母的原因和后果来填补这些空白，以便我们可以更好地了解照顾者如何在入学时支持儿童的科学成功。该项目由NSF的EDU核心研究（ECR）计划支持。ECR计划强调基础STEM教育研究，产生该领域的基础知识。投资是在关键领域是必不可少的，广泛的，持久的：干学习和干学习环境，扩大参与干，干劳动力发展，并通过发现研究PreK-12（DRK-12）计划，支持应用研究在正式的干学习环境。本研究将采用多方法研究看护者过度投入行为的基本认知机制，以及儿童对看护者过度投入行为的反应。在研究1中，研究者将采用观察和实验的方法，测试父母对学习和任务结果的信念是否驱动他们对科学和非科学任务的过度投入行为。在研究2中，研究人员将进行实验，以确定哪些推论会导致过度参与的父母对幼儿科学坚持性的消极影响，以及父母如何参与儿童的生活而不破坏他们的动机。在研究3中，研究人员将进行一项纵向研究，评估学前阶段过度参与的父母如何与儿童在向正规教育过渡期间的科学参与和成就相关。这些研究将与社区合作伙伴、学校和科学博物馆合作进行，以确保包容来自不同背景的家庭。综合考虑，这些结果将为看护者如何培养幼儿的科学动机和成就提供重要的见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Acquiring scientific knowledge and skills requires persisting through challenges, yet it has become increasingly common for parents in the United States to step in and solve problems for their children. This type of over-engaged parenting leads preschool-age children to have lower persistence, lower executive function, and worse reading and math achievement in grade school across socioeconomic backgrounds. However, prior work leaves open major theoretical and practical questions about the beliefs that drive over-engaged parenting and children’s response to it. Our research aims to fill these gaps by examining the causes and consequences of over-engaged parenting so that we can better understand how caregivers can support children's scientific success upon school entry. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development, and by the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) program, which supports applied research in formal STEM learning environments. The proposed research will take a multi-method approach to uncover the basic cognitive mechanisms underlying caregivers' over-engaged behavior and children's response to it. In Study 1, researchers will employ observational and experimental methods to test whether parents’ beliefs about learning and task outcome drive their over-engaged behavior on science and non-science tasks. In Study 2, researchers will conduct experiments to determine which inferences drive the demotivating effects of over-engaged parenting on young children’s science persistence, as well as how parents can be involved in children's lives without undermining their motivation. In Study 3, researchers will run a longitudinal study assessing how over-engaged parenting during the preschool years relates to children’s science engagement and achievement during the transition to formal schooling. These studies will be conducted in collaboration with community partners, schools, and science museums to ensure the inclusion of families from diverse backgrounds. Taken together, the results will provide critical insight into how caregivers can foster young children's science motivation and achievement.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.