Role of Parents and Caregivers in Supporting Science Learning for Young Children

Parents and other primary caregivers are among the most influential factors in young children’s learning and development (Institute of Medicine & National Research Council, 2012; National Research Council, 2000; Weiss, H., Little, P., Bouffard, S., Deschenes, S., & Malone, H., 2009). According to the National Research Council (National Research Council, 2000):“Decades of research confirm that parents and families account for the majority of variation in child development outcomes, even for families in which children spend the bulk of the day in preschool or daycare.”

Through conversations and interactions in everyday settings and designed environments such as children’s museums and science centers, young children regularly learn about and engage with science with their parents and other family members during conversations and interactions in everyday settings and designed informal learning environments, such as children’s museums and science centers (Callanan & Jipson, 2001; Callanan & Oakes, 1992; Callanan, Siegel, & Luce, 2007; Crowley, Callanan, Jipson, et al., 2001; Duschl, Schweingruber, Shouse, & National Research Council, 2007; Fender & Crowley, 2007; National Research Council, 2009; Rigney & Callanan, 2011; Valle & Callanan, 2006).

Understanding the role that parents play in supporting science learning for young children is an active and ongoing area of research. Broadly, parents are believed to support science learning both directly, by scaffolding learning and modeling, and by supporting interest during science-related interactions (Alexander, Johnson, & Leibham, 2013; Barron, Martin, Takeuchi, & Fithian, 2009; Crowley, Callanan, Jipson, et al., 2001; Fender & Crowley, 2007; Frenzel, Pekrun, Dicke, & Goetz, 2012; Leibham, Alexander, Johnson, Neitzel, & Reis-Henrie, 2005; Tenenbaum & Leaper, 2003; Valle & Callanan, 2006), and indirectly, by providing science learning experiences and resources (Alexander, Johnson, & Kelley, 2012; National Research Council, 2009). Several important areas of study include:

• Children’s questions (e.g., Callanan & Oakes, 1992; Chouinard, Harris, & Maratsos, 2007; DeLoache, Simcock, & Macari, 2007; Kelemen, Callanan, Casler, & Pérez-Granados, 2005)
• Parent explanations (e.g., Callanan & Braswell, 2006; Crowley, Callanan, Jipson, et al., 2001; Crowley & Jacobs, 2002; Fender & Crowley, 2007)
• Linguistic cues (e.g., Callanan et al., 2007; Rigney & Callanan, 2011)
• Interest support (e.g., Alexander et al., 2012; Pattison, 2014; Renninger, 2007)
• Gender (e.g., Alexander et al., 2012; Crowley, Callanan, Tenenbaum, & Allen, 2001)

Informal science education programs and exhibits designed to support science learning for young children must carefully consider and support the role of parents and primary caregivers in this learning process. Educators should also be aware that cultural assumptions and expectations related to parenting can shape how informal science education institutions and professionals perceive the role of parents and how parents and caregivers from different communities behave in different settings (Ceballo, Huerta, & Epstein-Ngo, 2010; Garibay, 2009; National Research Council, 2000, 2009; Tenenbaum & Callanan, 2008).

Alexander, J. M., Johnson, K. E., & Kelley, K. (2012). Longitudinal analysis of the relations between opportunities to learn about science and the development of interests related to science. Science Education, 96(5), 763–786. http://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21018

Alexander, J. M., Johnson, K. E., & Leibham, M. E. (2013). Emerging individual interest related to science in young children.

Barron, B., Martin, C. K., Takeuchi, L., & Fithian, R. (2009). Parents as learning partners in the development of technological fluency. International Journal of Learning and Media, 1(2), 55–77. http://doi.org/10.1162/ijlm.2009.0021

Callanan, M. A., & Braswell, G. (2006). Parent-child conversations about science and literacy: Links between formal and informal learning. In Z. Bekerman, N. C. Burbules, & D. Silberman-Keller (Eds.), Learning in places: The informal education reader (pp. 123–137). New York: Peter Lang.

Callanan, M. A., & Jipson, J. L. (2001). Explanatory conversations and young children’s developing scientific literacy. In K. D. Crowley, C. D. Schunn, & T. Okada (Eds.), Designing for science: Implications from everyday, classroom, and professional settings (pp. 123–156). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Callanan, M. A., & Oakes, L. M. (1992). Preschoolers’ questions and parents’ explanations: Causal thinking in everyday activity. Cognitive Development, 7(2), 213–233. http://doi.org/10.1016/0885-2014(92)90012-G

Callanan, M. A., Siegel, D. R., & Luce, M. R. (2007). Conventionality in family conversations about everyday objects. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2007(115), 83–97. http://doi.org/10.1002/cd.184

Ceballo, R., Huerta, M., & Epstein-Ngo, Q. (2010). Parental and school influences promoting academic success among Latino students. In J. L. Meece & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Handbook of research on schools, schooling, and human development (pp. 293–307). New York: Routledge.

Chouinard, M., Harris, P. L., & Maratsos, M. P. (2007). Children’s questions: A mechanism for cognitive development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, i–129.

Crowley, K. D., Callanan, M. A., Jipson, J. L., Galco, J., Topping, K., & Shrager, J. (2001). Shared scientific thinking in everyday parent-child activity. Science Education, 85(6), 712–732. http://doi.org/10.1002/sce.1035

Crowley, K. D., Callanan, M. A., Tenenbaum, H. R., & Allen, E. (2001). Parents explain more often to boys than to girls during shared scientific thinking. Psychological Science, 12(3), 258–261. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00347

Crowley, K. D., & Jacobs, M. (2002). Building islands of expertise in everyday family activity. In G. Leinhardt, K. Crowley, & K. Knutson (Eds.), Learning conversations in museums (pp. 333–356). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

DeLoache, J. S., Simcock, G., & Macari, S. (2007). Planes, trains, automobiles-and tea sets: Extremely intense interests in very young children. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1579–1586. http://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1579

Duschl, R. A., Schweingruber, H. A., Shouse, A. W., & National Research Council (Eds.). (2007). Taking science to school: Learning and teaching science in grades K-8. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11625/taking-science-to-school-learning-and-t...

Fender, J. G., & Crowley, K. D. (2007). How parent explanation changes what children learn from everyday scientific thinking. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 28(3), 189–210. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2007.02.007

Frenzel, A. C., Pekrun, R., Dicke, A.-L., & Goetz, T. (2012). Beyond quantitative decline: Conceptual shifts in adolescents’ development of interest in mathematics. Developmental Psychology, 48(4), 1069–1082. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0026895

Garibay, C. (2009). Latinos, leisure values and decisions: Implications for informal science learning and engagement. The Informal Learning Review, 94.

Institute of Medicine, & National Research Council. (2012). From neurons to neighborhoods: An update: Workshop summary. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.

Kelemen, D., Callanan, M. A., Casler, K., & Pérez-Granados, D. R. (2005). Why things happen: Teleological explanation in parent-child conversations. Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 251–264. http://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.1.251

Leibham, M. E., Alexander, J. M., Johnson, K. E., Neitzel, C. L., & Reis-Henrie, F. P. (2005). Parenting behaviors associated with the maintenance of preschoolers’ interests: A prospective longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26(4), 397–414. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2005.05.001

National Research Council. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early child development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

National Research Council. (2009). Learning science in informal environments: People, places, and pursuits. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Pattison, S. A. (2014). Exploring the foundations of science interest development in early childhood. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1957/54783

Renninger, K. A. (2007). Interest and motivation in informal science learning. Learning Science in Informal Environments Commissioned Paper. Board on Science Education, The National Academies. Retrieved from http://www2.informalscience.org/researches/Renninger_Commissioned_Paper.pdf

Rigney, J. C., & Callanan, M. A. (2011). Patterns in parent–child conversations about animals at a marine science center. Cognitive Development, 26(2), 155–171. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2010.12.002

Tenenbaum, H. R., & Callanan, M. A. (2008). Parents’ science talk to their children in Mexican-descent families residing in the USA. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 32(1), 1–12. http://doi.org/10.1177/0165025407084046

Tenenbaum, H. R., & Leaper, C. (2003). Parent-child conversations about science: The socialization of gender inequities? Developmental Psychology, 39(1), 34–47. http://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.39.1.34

Valle, A., & Callanan, M. A. (2006). Similarity comparisons and relational analogies in parent-child conversations about science topics. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52(1), 96–124. http://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.2006.0009

Weiss, H., Little, P., Bouffard, S., Deschenes, S., & Malone, H. (2009). The federal role in out of school learning: After-school, summer learning, and family involvement as critical learning supports. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/the-federal-role-in-out-of-school-learning-after-school-summer-learning-and-family-involvement-as-critical-learning-supports