Monkeying Around: Developing Preschoolers' Computational Thinking Through Joint Engagement
Heather J. Lavigne · Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting · 2019
This research is intended to examine the extent to which media and hands-on activity prototypes support joint engagement in computational thinking (CT) by caregivers and their preschool children.Education Development Center (EDC) and WGBH are partnered on an NSF-funded project to research and develop resources that support athome exploration of CT skills by caregivers and children.EDC conducted a small formative study with 16 English-speaking families (children and their caregivers) to test out these media and activity set prototypes.During the in-person video viewing session, researchers showed children one of four possible media sets (consisting of animated and live-action videos), each related to a CT Core Idea, and engaged in an interview protocol immediately following viewing.During the hands-on activity session, caregivers reviewed a prototype of a hands-on activity, conducted the activity with their child, and participated in an interview upon completion.Following the activity session, caregivers were given a tablet with additional media and hands-on activities related to the same CT Core Idea, and were asked to use these materials at home with their children over a oneweek period.At the end of the week, a researcher conducted a phone interview to gather caregiver reflections of the at-home experience.Observations and interviews yielded valuable evidence that the resources support families to engage in learning around the CT Core Ideas.Results suggest that the educational media were well received by caregivers and children and that this at-home model for joint engagement provides caregivers with valuable learning opportunities.