Parent–Child Math Talk About Fractions During Formal Learning and Guided Play Activities

This study examined parent–child math talk within three contexts (formal learning; guided play; unguided play) in order to identify characteristics of activities supporting high-quality math engagement. Seventy-two dyads of parents and 4- and 5-year-olds were observed using a set of toy foods; instructions and materials varied across conditions. Parents and children engaged in the most math talk in formal learning; guided play also yielded more math talk than unguided play. Parents rated the formal learning and guided play activities as equally supportive of math learning, but rated the guided play activity as more enjoyable than the formal learning activity. The findings have implications for how parents should be encouraged to support preschoolers’ math learning.     

Feel the Quality

abstract

Learning through conversation constitutes a simple form of pedagogy which has received a great deal of rhetorical but little serious attention, certainly with regard to children of school age. This paper first examines research on preschool children conversing with their parents or carers which serves to highlight the vital role of dialogue in early intellectual development; conversational learning also appears to be crucial for the success of programmes designed to accelerate early learning. Conversational learning is necessarily curtailed when children start school. Nevertheless, a number of indicators have recently emerged which suggest that conversational learning loses little, if any, of its potency as children grow older. These include studies in which researchers talk to individual children in the classroom, experimental studies of adult‐guided learning and the experience of parents who educate their children at home. Peer‐tutoring and cooperative learning are considered.     

Connecting out-of-school learning to home: Digital postcards from summer camp

Parents and children are rapidly adopting mobile technologies, yet designs for mobile devices that serve a communication function to connect parents to children’s out-of-school time activities are limited. As a result, our team designed the Digital Postcard Maker so that children attending summer camps can create digital photographs to send home to their parents. These digital postcards help to connect children’s home life with out-of-school learning experiences and also support 21st Century Skills’ media literacy practices. The research design included two iterations of a design-based research project with 58 children from 55 families. Design implications related to supporting informal science learning with mobile computing relying on digital photography are shared, including (i) the need for additional support to transform an out-of-school recreational activity into an out-of-school learning activity, and (ii) the utility of photographs as a means to connect parents and children to talk about environmental sciences topics.     

A multivariate examination of parent involvement and the social and academic competencies of urban kindergarten children

The primary objective of this study was to obtain a multidimensional picture of parent involvement in kindergarten. Participants in this study were 307 low‐income, ethnic minority children and their primary caregivers in a large, urban school district in the Northeast. Results revealed that kindergarten parent involvement dimensions (i.e., from the Parent Involvement in Children's Education Scale; Fantuzzo, Tighe, McWayne, Davis, & Childs, 2002) were congruent with those established with preschool (Head Start) parents. Multivariate relationships were found between kindergarten parent involvement dimensions and children's social and academic competencies. Parents who actively promote learning in the home, have direct and regular contact with school, and experience fewer barriers to involvement have children who demonstrate positive engagement with their peers, adults, and learning. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 363–377, 2004.     

A support group for parents of children on a waiting list for an assessment for autism spectrum disorder

Parents of children waiting for a diagnostic assessment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience distress and anxiety while they wait. The present small-scale study took place in a multi-disciplinary therapeutic service in Ireland for children with ASD and was run between April and September 2011. The first author, an educational psychologist on a multi-disciplinary team, designed a qualitative, three-staged study to look at ways of supporting parents of children on the waiting list for assessment. Focus group discussions were analysed using thematic content analysis to identify themes to facilitate the development and evaluation of a pilot parent education group. Findings suggested that the ASD “journey” begins when the disorder is first raised as a possibility. Parents want information about ASD and the diagnostic process at this point. Parents reported benefits from the pilot group through meeting professionals involved in assessment, being supported by other parents, and learning strategies to help their children.     

Parents' and Kindergarten Teachers' Beliefs About the Effects of Child Care

Parents' and kindergarten teachers' beliefs about the effects of child care on children's adjustment to school were investigated. Using a standardized behavioral rating scale, both groups were asked to rate two hypothetical children just entering kindergarten; one with full-day child care experience and one who had only experienced care in the home by a parent or relative. There was an interaction between the experience of the believer and their ratings of the two hypothetical children. Parents who had used child care for their own children rated the 'day care child' most positively. Parents who had kept their own children at home rated the 'home care child' most positively. Kindergarten teachers rated both hypothetical children equally, but more negatively than parents. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Embedding Mathematical Dialogue in Parent–Child Shared Book Reading: A Preliminary Investigation

Research Findings: Shared book reading provides a meaningful context for rich conversations to occur between a child and an adult and offers opportunities for children to be exposed to a range of vocabulary and concepts that often extend beyond their everyday experiences. Few studies have examined parent–child shared book reading as a context for embedding mathematical discussion. The purpose of this study was to examine systematically the effect of training parents to focus on mathematical concepts and vocabulary during shared book reading. Specific research questions were as follows: (a) Did parents increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading following training? (b) Did parents generalize intervention strategies? And (c) did children increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading? Results from a yoked multiple-baseline design with 6 dyads indicated variability across the dyads with 2 general patterns. Math talk increased following training for 3 of the dyads, whereas verbal mathematical behavior did not show consistent change for the other 3 dyads. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in the context of home support for early mathematical development.     

Parents' and Kindergarten Teachers' Beliefs About the Effects of Child Care

Parents' and kindergarten teachers' beliefs about the effects of child care on children's adjustment to school were investigated. Using a standardized behavioral rating scale, both groups were asked to rate two hypothetical children just entering kindergarten; one with full-day child care experience and one who had only experienced care in the home by a parent or relative. There was an interaction between the experience of the believer and their ratings of the two hypothetical children. Parents who had used child care for their own children rated the ‘day care child' most positively. Parents who had kept their own children at home rated the 'home care child' most positively. Kindergarten teachers rated both hypothetical children equally, but more negatively than parents. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Parent perspectives on inclusive education in Budapest

The purpose of this study was to better understand parents’ perspectives of education in Budapest, particularly parents of children with disabilities or children who struggle with learning. Nine parents were interviewed. Parents found schools for their child with a disability to be lacking in terms of updated materials, methods and service provision for students; relationships with families and the burden placed on families to advocate for their child or find alternatives were also problematic. Changes are required at all levels of the educational system, including parent involvement and teacher preparation programmes.     

Parents’ support during different writing tasks: a comparison between parents of precocious readers,preschoolers, and school-age children

The study aimed to deepen the understanding of parental sensitivity to their children’s abilities and the nature of their scaffolding during writing tasks. We compared the parent–child writing interactions of three groups: precocious readers (PRs), same age preschoolers (SA), and older children with the same reading level (SRL) as the PRs. Each of 60 parent child-dyads was videotaped during three writing activities that varied in their structure level: word writing, writing a birthday invitation, and free writing within a wordless children’s book. Interactions were analyzed for parental literacy-specific, social-emotional, and general cognitive support. Results demonstrated parents’ sensitivity to their children’s developmental level and skills. Parents of PRs showed levels of literacy-specific support similar to parents of older children with the SRL, and higher than parents of SA non-reading children. Parents of PRs resembled parents of SA preschoolers and provided their children with more social-emotional support than parents of the older SRL children. The general cognitive support of parents of PRs was higher than that of the two other groups. Moreover, parents of PRs referred to writing conventions and showed more responsiveness than parents in the other two groups. Parents in all three groups emphasized literacy-specific support during the more structured writing tasks (words and invitation), and placed greater emphasis on the social-emotional and general cognitive support during the least structured task (free writing within the wordless book). Beyond these differences, parents demonstrated a consistent support style. We discuss parent–child writing interactions as a context for early literacy development.     

A Vygotskian perspective on parent–child talk during iPad story sharing

This study explores the themes in the talk of two mothers and daughters as they share a self‐created story with an iPad app. Vygotsky's theory of learning is applied to inform a thematic analysis and help interpret the learning potential within the observed parent–child exchanges. A deductive–inductive thematic analysis identified three recurring themes in the parent–child talk: realistic fiction, scaffolding variations, and engaged players and objects of ‘play’. The themes suggested that Vygotsky's theory has particular relevance in exploring the learning processes facilitated by the iPad app. In addition, however, post‐Vygotskian theoretical frameworks were helpful in capturing the dynamic co‐construction of the authentic and multimedia stories parents and children shared.     

Conversation and Object Manipulation Influence Children's Learning in a Museum

The effects of parent–child conversation and object manipulation on children's learning, transfer of knowledge, and memory were examined in two museum exhibits and conversations recorded at home. Seventy‐eight children (M_age = 4.9) and their parents were randomly assigned to receive conversation cards featuring elaborative questions about exhibit objects, the physical objects themselves, both, or neither, before their exhibit visits. Dyads who received the cards engaged in more elaborative talk and joint nonverbal activities with objects in the first exhibit than those who did not. Dyads who received objects engaged in the most parent–child joint talk. Results also illustrate transfer of information across exhibits and from museum to home. Implications for understanding mechanisms of informal learning and transfer are discussed.     

A group randomized controlled trial evaluating parent involvement in whole-school actions to reduce bullying

Parents can significantly affect children's peer relationships, including their involvement in bullying. The authors developed and evaluated ways to enhance parents’ knowledge, self-efficacy, attitudes, and skills related to parent–child communication about bullying. The 3-year Friendly Schools Friendly Families whole-school intervention included a family component, which provided training and resources to support school teams to engage families in awareness-raising and skill-building activities. Over 3,200 parents of the Grade 2, 4, and 6 cohorts were recruited. For the Grade 2 and 4 cohorts at both 10 and 22 months postintervention, the family component increased parents’ self-efficacy to talk about bullying with their children and their frequency of doing so. Grade 4 parents reported more provictim attitudes at 22 months. No differences were found for the Grade 6 cohort. These data suggest a whole-school capacity-building intervention in early and middle childhood can improve the likelihood and frequency of positive parent–child communication about bullying.     

Parent Scaffolding in Children's Oral Reading

Parent coaching strategies during shared book reading were analysed according to the principles of scaffolding in a sample of 46 parent-child dyads during the latter half of grade one. The ways that parents responded to each of a child's oral reading errors or miscues were coded into levels of assistance that reflected increasing support at each successive level. In addition children's attempts at rereading miscued words were coded as successful or not. Parents often provided a string of feedback clues and analyses revealed that the level of support parents provided shifted up or increased when their child was unsuccessful in rereading a word after feedback. With increasing level of parental support children's success in rereading misread words increased. Moreover, children with weaker word recognition skill were offered feedback at higher levels of support by their parents. These results demonstrate how parents and children co-construct the feedback that parents provide when listening to their children read and the sensitivity on the part of parents to children's reading performance.     

The Role of Parent,Provider, and Child Characteristics in Parent–Provider Relationships in Infant and Toddler Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examined how characteristics of parents, providers, and children contribute to the quality of parent–provider relationships in infant and toddler classrooms. Parents (n = 192) and providers (n = 95) from 14 child care centers in a large metropolitan area participated by completing questionnaires about the nature of their relationships and communication, as well as other aspects of the child care experience. Although the study did not examine causal relations between variables, characteristics of parent–provider relationships were correlated with parents’ anxiety about placing their children in care, with providers’ knowledge of child development, and with whether parents and providers had worked together in the past. Parents’ views of their relationships with providers were more positive when they had worked with them before and when they were less anxious about placing their children in care. Providers who had worked with parents before had less favorable views of their relationships when parents were more anxious about placing their children in care; however, this was not the case when providers and parents were in more recent relationships. Providers who had never worked with parents before viewed relationships more positively when they had more knowledge of child development. The opposite was true for providers who had worked with parents before. Providers with more knowledge of child development reported communicating more frequently with parents. Providers reported communicating more frequently with parents of children with easier temperaments. Practice or Policy: Implications for transition practices in early care and education settings, in-service training, and teacher education programs are discussed.     

Supporting children’s outdoor science learning with mobile computers: integrating learning on-the-move strategies with context-sensitive computing

ABSTRACT

Two cases of context-sensitive mobile computing curricula for children are shown to develop analytical understandings of how science-related sense-making talk can be supported through physical and digital environment interaction, which supports play and learning through movement. Our work investigates how proximity-based computing mediates children’s engagement in scientific sense-making conversations in a botanical garden. We draw upon sociocultural perspectives on sense-making talk as well as learning on-the-move to inform our study design. Data are from children in summer camp, including field notes, photographs, and video records (26 children in Case A, 24 in Case B) in an Arboretum. Our findings illustrate that children engaged in both playful and scientific sense-making talk in two distinct curricular tasks. We provide insights into science sense-making talk patterns and pedagogical practices of integrating learning on-the-move strategies into informal education with design principles related to augmenting gardens with digital content. Our results suggest that learning on-the-move strategies influence sense-making talk and that embodied interactions within the gardens support science sense-making and role-play. We posit that designs for learner-centered mobile computing can create digital-physical hybrid spaces where learners engage each other and natural objects as they walk through community spaces.     

Parent Scaffolding in Children's Oral Reading

Parent coaching strategies during shared book reading were analysed according to the principles of scaffolding in a sample of 46 parent-child dyads during the latter half of grade one. The ways that parents responded to each of a child's oral reading errors or miscues were coded into levels of assistance that reflected increasing support at each successive level. In addition children's attempts at rereading miscued words were coded as successful or not. Parents often provided a string of feedback clues and analyses revealed that the level of support parents provided shifted up or increased when their child was unsuccessful in rereading a word after feedback. With increasing level of parental support children's success in rereading misread words increased. Moreover, children with weaker word recognition skill were offered feedback at higher levels of support by their parents. These results demonstrate how parents and children co-construct the feedback that parents provide when listening to their children read and the sensitivity on the part of parents to children's reading performance.     

From promises to practices: the fate of educational software in the home

Abstract

Thirty-two families were given six market-leading, educational CDROMs each, and usage of them was logged over 11 weeks. These children and their parents were also interviewed on three occasions. Although parents and children were enthusiastic upon receipt of the software and envisaged that it would be a useful learning tool, children's use of these titles rapidly declined to an average of between only 10 and 25 minutes a week. Children spent most of their time using these products alone; collaboration with other family members was minimal. This is compared with parents' examples of other learning activities that take place as a whole family. Parents and children were asked to discuss the perceived qualities of the CD-ROMs. Parents had limited insight into how this home computer experience might relate to their children's experience in classrooms and they made little reference to informal theories of learning and teaching in judging the quality and impact of the software. This was classified as ‘good’ mainly in terms of features that could promote recreational enjoyment. It is concluded that the purchase/provision of a PC and of educational CD-ROMs is not enough, by itself, to foster lively learning practices in the home. Parents and schools need to work more closely together if this is to be achieved.     

Causal Effects of Parent Number Talk on Preschoolers’ Number Knowledge

Individual differences in children’s number knowledge arise early and are associated with variation in parents’ number talk. However, there exists little experimental evidence of a causal link between parent number talk and children’s number knowledge. Parent number talk was manipulated by creating picture books which parents were asked to read with their children every day for 4 weeks. N = 100 two- to four-year olds and their parents were randomly assigned to read either Small Number (1 – 3), Large Number (4 – 6), or Control (non-numerical) books. Small Number books were particularly effective in promoting number knowledge relative to the Control books. However, children who began the study further along in their number development also benefited from reading the Large Number Books with their parents.     

An instructional guide for reducing the stress of hearing parents of hearing-impaired children

The impact of a self-instructional program to reduce stress levels of parents of hearing-impaired children is examined. Fifty parents with hearing-impaired children were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Participating Parents, who received a Self-Instructional Parent Program (SIPP); and Non-participating Parents, who received no such program. Findings indicate that the participating parents did not experience significant decreases in their stress levels or in the perceived incidence of misbehavior in their children in comparison with non-participating parents. Participating parents, however, reported a decrease in their children's misbehavior; non-participating parents noted an increase. Additionally, the findings also associated increasing stress on the part of parents with parental perceptions of burgeoning misbehavior on the part of the child.