Teaching Together: Engaging Parents and Preschoolers in STEM Activities & Academic Conversations

作为在非正式环境中加强学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划为各种环境中使用的创新研究、方法和资源提供资金。该项目考察了在STEM经验方面通常未得到充分服务的家庭--经历贫困的家庭--中，家庭和年轻学习者一起从“做科学和数学”中获益最多的情况。这个项目建立在现有的名为一起教学的项目的基础上，该项目使用由博物馆教育工作者领导的互动亲子研讨会，重点支持在家学习STEM。这些讲习班的目的是通过在日常生活和非正式的STEM活动中支持学习和探究对话，增加父母/照顾者的自我认知和作为孩子的第一位老师的能力。家庭在孩子的学前教育中心和当地的儿童博物馆参加一系列下午和晚上的研讨会。家长/照顾者可以参加在线家庭学习活动和博物馆体验。该项目使用实验设计来测试为非正式STEM学习提供增量支持的附加值。这项研究使用了一种实验设计来解决父母/照顾者可能感觉到的与孩子一起进行非正式STEM活动的潜在障碍。该项目还探讨了亲子非正式学习互动的数量和质量如何与学龄前儿童科学和数学知识的变化有关。该项目的合作伙伴包括德克萨斯大学休斯顿健康科学中心的儿童学习研究所和休斯顿儿童博物馆。该项目旨在通过实验操作更广泛的期望值-成本动机理论的关键方面，来增加对如何鼓励父母/照顾者支持非正式STEM学习的理解，该理论在心理学和教育学文献中得到了很好的确立，但尚未应用于学龄前亲子非正式STEM学习。更具体地说，干预条件旨在确定具体的父母支持如何减轻经历贫困的家庭面临的潜在障碍。这些干预条件包括：在讲习班期间建立非正式STEM学习的模型，以解决技能和知识障碍；编写材料，解决获取科学和数学资源的困难；以及作为解决父母时间压力和/或成本的一种方式的奖励措施，从而提高对非正式学习活动的参与度。干预效果将根据影响大小进行计算，并将使用结构方程模型探索潜在的变化中介因素。该项目的第一阶段采用迭代程序来完善课程，扩大为3至5岁儿童家庭设计的资源集合。第二阶段使用STEM计划的实验研究，以检查最大限度地提高家庭学习计划的参与度和有效性的条件。总的来说，360个家庭将被随机分配到四个条件下：1)一切照常控制；2)以研讨会为基础的核心教学计划；3)共同教学研讨会+为家庭提供基于探究的STEM活动工具包；以及4)共同教学工作坊+活动工具包+为父母/照顾者记录与孩子在一起的非正式STEM学习经验时提供金钱奖励。干预将以英语和西班牙语进行。还将对干预措施进行成本分析。本研究采用了定量和定性相结合的研究方法。数据来源包括家长调查和访谈，家庭学习活动的对话分析，非正式学习活动的家长照片记录，以及对孩子在数学、科学和词汇知识方面的成长的标准化评估。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. This project examines the conditions in which families and young learners most benefit from "doing science and math" together among a population that is typically underserved with respect to STEM experiences--families experiencing poverty. This project builds on an existing program called Teaching Together that uses interactive parent-child workshops led by a museum educator and focused on supporting STEM learning at home. The goal of these workshops is to increase parents'/caregivers' self-perception and ability to serve as their child's first teacher by supporting learning and inquiry conversations during daily routines and informal STEM activities. Families attend a series of afternoon and evening workshops at their child's preschool center and at a local children's museum. Parents/Caregivers may participate in online home learning activities and museum experiences. The project uses an experimental design to test the added value of providing incremental supports for informal STEM learning. The study uses an experimental design to address potential barriers parents/caregivers may perceive to doing informal STEM activities with their child. The project also explores how the quantity and quality parent-child informal learning interactions may relate to changes in children's science and mathematics knowledge during the pre-kindergarten year. The project partners include the Children's Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the Children's Museum of Houston. The project is designed to increase understanding of how parents/caregivers can be encouraged to support informal STEM learning by experimentally manipulating key aspects of the broader expectancy-value-cost motivation theory, which is well established in psychology and education literatures but has not been applied to preschool parent-child informal STEM learning. More specifically, the intervention conditions are designed to identify how specific parent supports can mitigate potential barriers that families experiencing poverty face. These intervention conditions include: modeling of informal STEM learning during workshops to address skills and knowledge barriers; materials to address difficulties accessing science and math resources; and incentives as a way to address parental time pressures and/or costs and thereby improve involvement in informal learning activities. Intervention effects will be calculated in terms of effect sizes and potential mediators of change will be explored with structural equation modeling. The first phase of the project uses an iterative process to refine the curriculum and expand the collection of resources designed for families of 3- to 5-year-olds. The second phase uses an experimental study of the STEM program to examine conditions that maximize participation and effectiveness of family learning programs. In all, 360 families will be randomly assigned to four conditions: 1) business-as-usual control; 2) the Teaching Together core workshop-based program; 3) Teaching Together workshops + provision of inquiry-based STEM activity kits for the home; and 4) Teaching Together workshop + activity kits + provision of monetary incentives for parents/caregivers when they document informal STEM learning experiences with their child. The interventions will occur in English and Spanish. A cost analysis across the interventions will also be conducted. This study uses quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data sources include parent surveys and interviews, conversation analysis of home learning activities, parent photo documentation of informal learning activities, and standardized assessments of children's growth in mathematics, science, and vocabulary knowledge.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.