STEM Learning from Books Prior to Formal Education

项目摘要/摘要 在儿童早期促进STEM知识的发展有助于为儿童在 正式入学，这反过来又对未来的职业成功产生连锁影响。共享图书阅读 STEM儿童读物是促进STEM知识获取的一种简单而有效的手段 处于早期开发阶段。然而，目前对共享图书是否以及如何共享的了解有限 阅读在正规教育之前促进STEM知识的获得。目前的研究调查了 通过检查现有STEM图书的质量，从共享图书阅读中获取知识 在儿童环境中，这类书籍如何影响儿童在共享阅读环境中的学习。 具体目标1确定STEM儿童书籍是否为 获得符合基本学习原则的STEM知识。研究1将是对 随手可得的儿童STEM书籍。STEM书籍将根据它们是否支持以下内容进行编码 编码，通过保持主题的内聚性和维护性，以及它们要求的程度 儿童通过提问和包括互动提示的方式进行主动处理。特定目标2调查 儿童读物和照顾者的阅读风格对学习STEM事实的支持和需求 与他们的孩子互动，以促进STEM学习。在研究2中，照顾者将为他们的孩子朗读发表的内容 主干那些支持和需求程度不同的书籍。然后测试孩子们对事实的回忆能力 从书本上学到的。这项研究将在自然主义的背景下评估照顾者的超文本谈话是否 受书籍文本特征的影响，影响儿童对STEM事实的回忆。研究3采用实验方法 控制和操纵支持和需求文本特征如何影响STEM学习。加在一起，这些 研究考虑基本的学习原则，并采取生态有效的方法来确定儿童如何 通过共享阅读的环境学习STEM信息。这项工作将对 促进入学准备和以后的学业成就。此外，通过这项研究，这位研究员将 接受7个方面的培训。具体地说，研究员将1)在STEM的一个新的STEM领域获得知识- 相关的语义知识；2)学习新的编码技术，用于分析书籍和照顾者-儿童 互动；3)获得更多统计和计算机编程方面的培训；4)学习翻译研究 向公众公布研究结果；5)增加指导学生进行研究的经验；6)获得教学技能 与研究专长相关的领域；以及7)提高撰写补助金的熟练程度。那家伙的研究 环境是支持研究和培训的理想环境。发起人是语义知识方面的专家 和护理者精心设计的风格，并在指导和教学方面享有荣誉；合作者具有以下方面的专长 文本分析；实验室拥有优秀的资源和庞大的参与者池，必要的空间和设备， 以及尽职尽责的实验室工作人员；该系拥有优秀的认知和发展研究人员。

Project Summary/Abstract Promoting the development of STEM knowledge early in childhood helps to prepare children for success in formal school entry, which, in turn, has cascading implications for future career success. Shared book reading of STEM children’s books can be a simple and effective means for promoting STEM knowledge acquisition early in development. However, there is currently limited understanding of whether and how shared book reading promotes STEM knowledge acquisition prior to formal education. The current research investigates STEM knowledge acquisition from shared book reading by examining both the quality of available STEM books in children’s environments and how such books influence children’s learning in shared book reading contexts. Specific Aim 1 identifies whether STEM children’s books provide supportive and demanding contexts for acquiring STEM knowledge consistent with basic learning principles. Study 1 will be a textual analysis of readily available children’s STEM books. The STEM books will be coded for whether they provide support for encoding, through being cohesive and maintaining topics, and for the extent to which they are demanding of children’s active processing by asking questions and including interactive prompts. Specific Aim 2 investigates how support and demand for learning STEM facts present in children’s books and caregiver styles of reading to their children interact to facilitate STEM learning. In Study 2, caregivers will read to their child published STEM books that vary in their levels of support and demand. Then children will be tested on their recall of facts learned in the books. This study will assess, in a naturalistic context, whether caregivers’ extra-textual talk is affected by the books’ textual features to influence children’s recall of STEM facts. Study 3 uses experimental control and manipulates how support and demand textual features influence STEM learning. Together, these studies consider basic learning principles and take an ecologically valid approach to identifying how children learn STEM information through contexts of shared book reading. This work will have broad implications for promoting school-readiness and later academic achievement. Additionally, through this research, the fellow will receive training in 7 areas. Specifically, the fellow will 1) acquire knowledge in a new STEM domain of STEM- related semantic knowledge; 2) learn new coding techniques for the analysis of books and caregiver-child interactions; 3) acquire more training in statistics and computer programming; 4) learn to translate research findings to the public; 5) increase experience in mentoring students in research; 6) gain skills in teaching in a domain related to research expertise; and 7) increase proficiency in writing grants. The fellow’s research environment is ideal for supporting the research and training. The sponsor is an expert in semantic knowledge and caregiver elaborative styles and has honors in mentoring and teaching; the collaborator has expertise in textual analysis; the lab has excellent resources with a large participant pool, necessary space and equipment, as well as a committed lab staff; and the department has excellent researchers in Cognition and Development.