![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Promoting science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) skills for young children provides foundation for and interest in later STEM learning, making early childhood an important time to develop these competencies. Young children also spend increasing amounts of time with media, and thus it is important to understand if children are accessing STEM content and what factors may determine this access. The current survey study of parents of three- to seven-year olds assesses how parents’ science self-efficacy and parents’ scientific literacy relate to children’s STEM media use. Results demonstrate positive relations between parent self-efficacy and child STEM media use (aligned with self-efficacy theory), but results also demonstrate no significant relation between parent scientific literacy and child STEM media use. We conclude that parent self-efficacy is an important social susceptibility for young children’s STEM media use and that future research should continue exploring potential interventions for promoting parents’ self-efficacy related to teaching their children science.
Impact Summary
Prior State of Knowledge: Little research has examined the relations between parents’ perceived beliefs that they can teach their children science and children’s engagement with STEM media. Children spend increasing time with media; thus, we should understand how to leverage this time for learning.
Novel Contributions: The current study demonstrates that parents’ beliefs that they can teach their children science are positively associated with children’s STEM media use. However, parents’ scientific literacy was not associated with children’s STEM media use.
Practical Implications: To get children to use more STEM media, interventions should focus on parents’ beliefs that they can teach their children STEM concepts, such as science. Parents influence children’s media use, and intervening with parents can help shape children’s media diets in positive ways.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2024.2383618.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Allyson L. Snyder
Allyson L. Snyder (M.S) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Davis. She researches how children learn STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, and math) from interactive media, including virtual reality. Allyson also researches the role of parents in children’s media use as well as the intersection of media use and self-regulation.
Drew P. Cingel
Drew P. Cingel (Ph.D.) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Cingel studies the intersection between human development, media use, and media effects, focusing on children’s moral development, as well as social media, adolescent development, and mental health.
Alexis Patterson Williams
Alexis Patterson Williams (Ph.D.) is an associate professor at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Patterson Williams’s research lies at the intersection of equity studies, social psychology, and science education. Her work explores 1) equity issues that arise from social hierarchies in science classrooms and 2) teacher development of practices that support equitable and robust interactions between students that can deconstruct implicit and explicit language and literacy hierarchies.