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The Role of Parents in Children’s Engineering Achievement Beliefs and Aspirations

Description
Engineering careers are in high demand due to the increasingly technology-based society. However, the rates at which individuals pursue and obtain engineering careers is not keeping up with societal demands. Research has recently aimed at understanding how engineering-related motivational beliefs are developed in children and how important socializers, such as…

Engineering careers are in high demand due to the increasingly technology-based society. However, the rates at which individuals pursue and obtain engineering careers is not keeping up with societal demands. Research has recently aimed at understanding how engineering-related motivational beliefs are developed in children and how important socializers, such as parents, play a role in the development of these beliefs. The parent socialization model of situated expectancy-task value theory (SEVT) suggests that parents hold expectancies and task-value beliefs about their children and that these beliefs are communicated through the messages they use and the behaviors they engage in with their children. Although the influence of parents has been examined for STEM broadly, studies have not explored these motivational beliefs in the engineering domain with elementary school students. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role of parents’ engineering beliefs about their child and parents’ engineering socialization behaviors on elementary school children’s engineering expectancy/task-value beliefs and their engineering-related career aspirations. Parents (N = 193; 75% mothers) completed questionnaires on engineering-related expectancy and task-value beliefs about their child and on their engineering socialization behaviors. First through sixth grade students (N = 255; 55% female) completed questionnaires on their engineering-related expectancy/task value beliefs and career aspirations. Findings revealed that parents’ beliefs about their child were associated with changes in children’s engineering-related competency beliefs. In addition, parental provision of engineering opportunities was associated with changes in children’s engineering-related importance beliefs. Results also revealed that parental engineering career support was higher for the low socioeconomic status (SES)/less parental education group compared to the high SES/more parental education group. Lastly, there were no associations found between parents’ beliefs with parents’ engineering socialization behaviors and there were no indirect associations between parents’ beliefs and children’s beliefs as mediated by parent socialization behaviors. These findings highlight the role of parents in children’s engineering motivational belief development and provide important implications for future engineering intervention efforts with parents and children.
ContributorsWoods, Bobbi (Author) / Ladd, Becky (Thesis advisor) / Miller, Cindy F (Committee member) / Wheeler, Lorey (Committee member) / Foster, Stacie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
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Examining Child-Centered and Direct Instruction Approaches to Early Education

Description
The majority of early education programs today use a mix of child-centered and direct instruction approaches. Existing research comparing educational approaches is limited in the degree to which it can inform practice in mixed-method classrooms (i.e., classrooms using both child-centered and direct instruction approaches). The current dissertation extended previous research…

The majority of early education programs today use a mix of child-centered and direct instruction approaches. Existing research comparing educational approaches is limited in the degree to which it can inform practice in mixed-method classrooms (i.e., classrooms using both child-centered and direct instruction approaches). The current dissertation extended previous research examining child-centered and direct instruction approaches to early education in two studies. The first study explored how free play and guided play differ from one another. The second study examined how time spent in free play, guided play, and direct instruction in the fall related to children's school readiness in the spring. Both studies were conducted using mixed-method Head Start classrooms. Participants were preschool children (Study 1 n = 284, Study 2 n = 283; M age = 52 months, 48% girls, 70% Mexican or Mexican-American) from lower socioeconomic status families. Observational data were utilized to assess children's time spent in free play and guided play and experiences with activities and peers in each context. Children's academic, affective, and social readiness were assessed through child interviews and teacher reports. The results provided little evidence to support the hypotheses or the popularly held belief that guided play is the most beneficial context for learning and development in early education programs. Findings were discussed in terms of the strengths and limitations of the studies and directions for future research. Importantly, recommendations for policy and practice were provided.
ContributorsGoble, Priscilla (Author) / Hanish, Laura D. (Thesis advisor) / Martin, Carol Lynn (Thesis advisor) / Wilkens, Natalie D. (Committee member) / Foster, Stacie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014