Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler

Numeracy‐related exchanges in joint storybook reading and play

Studies of the processes by which parents encourage early numerical development in the context of parent–child interactions during routine, culturally relevant activities at home are scarce. The present study was designed to investigate spontaneous exchanges related to numeracy during parent–child interactions in reading and play activities at home. Thirty‐seven families with a four‐year‐old child (13 low‐income) were observed. Two types of numeracy interactions were of interest: socio‐cultural numeracy exchanges, explaining the use and value of money or numbers in routine activities such as shopping or cooking, and mathematical exchanges, including counting, quantity or size comparisons. Results indicated that high‐income parents engaged in more mathematical exchanges during both reading and play than did low‐income parents, though there were no differences in the initiation of socio‐cultural numeracy exchanges. The focus of parental guidance related to numeracy was conceptual and embedded in the activity context, with few dyads focusing on counting or numbers per se. The findings suggest the importance of parent education efforts that incorporate numeracy‐related discourse in the context of daily routines to augment young children’s numeracy development.

Social Contexts of Development: Parent-Child Interactions during Reading and Play.

The study purpose was to describe parent—child engagement and parental guidance of children’s participation in literacy-related activities at home. Of the 37 families who participated in a home-based multimethod assessment of storybook reading and play activities, 13 were considered low income. The children’s mean age was 60 months. Parents read two storybooks with their child and engaged in a 15-minute play session with toys related to the stories. Results indicated that the overall amount of guidance provided did not differ due to income level of the families. Certain findings indicated that middle income parents provided greater support for early literacy learning, in that they engaged in more teaching during reading, made more connections between the book and the play episode, and reported reading to their children daily. However, regardless of income or education, parents provided high levels of support to sustain the children’s interest and engagement in both activities, using social connections such as humor and personal references. The extent to which both teaching-oriented guidance and socio-emotional involvement in early home-based literacy activities may be linked to enjoyment, motivation and success in subsequent school-based literacy experiences warrants further investigation among economically diverse families.

Parental support of numeracy during a cooking activity with four-year-olds

Abstract While research demonstrates the importance of numeracy-related activities performed at home for young childrens mathematics achievement, few studies involve observational studies of the processes which support childrens mathematical learning at home. On this premise, this study reports evidence from numeracy-related interactions between parents and their four-year-old child during cookery sessions at home. Numeracy group parents who received instructions to incorporate additional mathematics into the activity provided significantly more numeracy guidance and also created more opportunities for their children to practice advanced mathematics. Comparison group parents provided enough numeracy guidance to complete the recipe but rarely provided extensive or advanced numeracy guidance. Children in the numeracy group generated significantly more correct math responses during the activity than comparison group children, though there were no significant differences on the post-test. The findings suggest the need to raise parental awareness of opportunities to support and encourage mathematics in activities at home.

Mothers’ and fathers’ guidance behaviours during storybook reading

The nature of parental guidance during book reading is an important influence on developmental outcomes linked to literacy and language. Despite extensive research documenting the importance of gender roles and schemas on young children’s participation in the sociocultural environment, little is known about the possible influences of parent and child gender on participation in literacy activities. The purpose of this study was to observe guidance behaviours employed by 26 mothers and fathers when reading to their three-year-old child in separate sessions. There was a consistent pattern of findings indicating that fathers provided more guidance to daughters, whereas mothers had higher rates of guided participation with sons. However, there were no differences on parental ratings of enjoyment or frequency of reading with sons or daughters. Theresults highlight interesting differences in parent-child interactions during reading and suggest that both parent and child gender may influence exchanges during shared storybook reading.

Guided Participation in a Cooking Activity over Time

In order to examine changes in maternal guidance over time, fourteen mothers and their preschoolers participated in a baking activity on two occasions over the course of one year. Maternal scaffolding and guidance, as well as parent and child engagement in the task, were assessed both times. Both scaffolding and guidance decreased at the second observation, supporting the premise that parental support is lessened as the childs experience and abilities increase. Results thus provided support for the zone of proximal development hypothesis. Childrens engagement in the cooking activity was positively associated with parental guidance, though negatively associated with high amounts of scaffolding, or direct intervention. Parental guidance may have been associated with the childs greater participation and involvement in the on-going activity, whereas higher levels of scaffolding reflected more parental control of the activity. Finally, when asked how they normally provide help to their child in various contexts, mothers mentioned the importance of positive encouragement, verbal instruction, asking questions, and modeling appropriate behaviors.

‘I learned how little kids think’: third‐graders’ scaffolding of craft activities with preschoolers

Peer scaffolding was examined in the context of an ongoing community outreach program, in which children in the third grade were partnered with preschool‐aged children once a month to do crafts and other activities. After each session, the experts wrote reflective journals on their mentoring experiences. Dyads were observed on one occasion for detailed analyses of the types of scaffolding provided. Finally, the third graders were interviewed at the end of the year to gain information about their final reflections on their peer mentoring experiences. Results of these three components converged to show that children did provide age‐appropriate and task‐appropriate scaffolding in the craft activities. Additionally, their meta‐cognitive abilities as reflected in their writing and talking about the mentoring experiences indicated awareness of the scaffolding process and its benefits for both experts and novices.

Social contexts of development in natural outdoor environments: children’s motor activities, personal challenges and peer interactions at the river and the creek

This study examined the influence of spending time outdoors on young children’s physical and socioemotional development. We observed preschoolers’ activities in two naturally provisioned outdoor environments over the course of one year. Eleven preschoolers were videotaped continuously for 16 days at a local river and 9 days at a creek adjacent to the school. In addition to the quantitative analyses of children’s behaviors, a case study of three children’s experiences over the course of the year was conducted. Both the river and the creek settings encouraged a multitude of physical and play behaviors with similar types of affordances, including flat surfaces for running, rocks for climbing and jumping off, and water for exploration and play, but the wilder environment (river) afforded more risk and personal challenges. Observations of children’s motor activities, play and responses to challenging environmental features supported the importance of accumulated experience and social context for the development of confidence in the face of risk, individual exploration and positive social support and engagement with peers.

‘Almost everything we do includes inquiry’: fostering inquiry-based teaching and learning with preschool teachers

ABSTRACT Given the increased emphasis on science in early learning standards, two studies were conducted to investigate preschool teachers’ efficacy for teaching science and their inquiry-based teaching practices. Fifty-one teachers completed a survey of their efficacy for teaching science and understanding of inquiry methods. Teachers reported moderate confidence in their abilities, but only 25% of respondents indicated knowledge of most steps of the inquiry process. In a follow-up study, a small group of teachers participated in training sessions followed by in-depth interviews. Most teachers reported implementing the beginning steps of inquiry, such as observing and questioning, within an activity, but rarely reported next steps, such as making predictions and evaluating evidence. Participants identified lack of materials, scheduling, and time constraints as challenges to inquiry-based teaching. Findings highlight the need for professional development, emphasising the integrated, sequential, cyclic nature of the inquiry process to support preschoolers’ complex thinking and reasoning.

“Mentoring is Sharing the Excitement of Discovery”: Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Research Mentoring

Although an increasing number of studies have examined students’ participation in undergraduate research (UR), little is known about faculty perceptions of mentoring in this context. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate four aspects of mentoring UR, including how faculty define high-quality UR mentoring and operationalize it in practice; what the perceived benefits and challenges of UR participation are for mentors and students; how mentoring relates to faculty perceptions of their other roles (teachers, advisors, and scholars); and how participation in various communities of practice influences UR mentoring. Sixty faculty respondents at a private, midsized comprehensive institution completed an online survey. In a series of qualitative analyses, responses to open-ended questions were coded as instrumental, psychosocial, or blended. Analyses revealed that faculty perceptions of UR mentoring were impacted by faculty approach to UR mentoring and faculty rank. These findings may be helpful in the development of UR programs and faculty support programming.

Undergraduate Research Mentoring: Obstacles and Opportunities

Researchers and policy-makers in higher education increasingly espouse the view that undergraduate students should have the opportunity to learn about scholarship and research in the context of faculty-mentored research experiences. There is mounting consensus that mentored undergraduate research should be standard pedagogical practice in all undergraduate disciplines. Although high-impact, mentored undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative work (URSCW) requires significant resources, with faculty time and energy foremost among them. This article addresses the current gap between aspiration and effective execution of well-mentored URSCW, including the most prevalent obstacles (e.g. institutional, departmental, individual) to undergraduate mentoring. This article is written for academic leaders and institutional officers. It concludes with several specific recommendations for increasing the frequency of mentored URSCW experiences for undergraduates.