Friday, June 16, 2023

EDUCATION

High-quality child care contributes to later success in science, math


Children with caregivers who provide warmth, cognitive stimulation do better in STEM subjects in high school

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Children who receive high-quality child care as babies, toddlers and preschoolers do better in science, technology, engineering and math through high school, and that link is stronger among children from low-income backgrounds, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

“Our results suggest that caregiving quality in early childhood can build a strong foundation for a trajectory of STEM success,” said study author Andres S. Bustamante, PhD, of the University of California Irvine. “Investing in quality child care and early childhood education could help remedy the underrepresentation of racially and ethnically diverse populations in STEM fields.”

The research was published in the journal Developmental Psychology.

Many studies have demonstrated that higher quality caregiving in early childhood is associated with better school readiness for young children from low-income families. But not as many have looked at how the effects of early child care extend into high school, and even fewer have focused specifically on STEM subjects, according to Bustamante.

To investigate those questions, Bustamante and his colleagues examined data from 979 families who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, from the time of the child’s birth in 1991 until 2006.

As part of the study, trained observers visited the day cares and preschools of all the children who were enrolled for 10 or more hours per week. The observers visited when the children were 6, 15, 24, 36 and 54 months old, and rated two aspects of the child care: the extent to which the caregivers provided a warm and supportive environment and responded to children’s interests and emotions, and the amount of cognitive stimulation they provided through using rich language, asking questions to probe the children’s thinking, and providing feedback to deepen the children’s understanding of concepts.

The researchers then looked at how the students performed in STEM subjects in elementary and high school. To measure STEM success, they examined the children’s scores on the math and reasoning portions of a standardized test in grades three to five. To measure high school achievement, the researchers looked at standardized test scores and the students’ most advanced science course completed, the most advanced math course completed, GPA in science courses and GPA in math courses.

Overall, they found that both aspects of caregiving quality (more cognitive stimulation and better caregiver sensitivity-responsivity) predicted greater STEM achievement in late elementary school (third, fourth and fifth grade), which in turn predicted greater STEM achievement in high school at age 15. Sensitive and responsive caregiving in early childhood was a stronger predictor of high school STEM performance for children from low-income families compared with children from higher income families.

“Our hypothesis was that cognitive stimulation would be more strongly related to STEM outcomes because those kinds of interactions provide the foundation for exploration and inquiry, which are key in STEM learning,” Bustamante said. “However, what we saw was that the caregiver sensitivity and responsiveness was just as predictive of later STEM outcomes, highlighting the importance of children’s social emotional development and settings that support cognitive and social emotional skills.”

Overall, Bustamante said, research and theory suggest that high-quality early care practices support a strong foundation for science learning. “Together, these results highlight caregiver cognitive stimulation and sensitivity and responsiveness in early childhood as an area for investment to strengthen the STEM pipeline, particularly for children from low-income households.”

ARTICLE: “Quality of Early Childcare and Education Predicts High School STEM Achievement for Students from Low-income Backgrounds,” by Andres S. Bustamante, PhD, Vanessa N. Bermudez, MA, Karlena D. Ochoa, PhD, Ashlee B. Belgrave, MA, and Deborah Lowe Vandell, PhD, University of California Irvine. Developmental Psychology, published online June 15, 2023.

CONTACT: Andres S. Bustamante can be reached at asbustam@uci.edu.

New research shows the benefits of teaching pupils about mental health in the classroom


Giving schools the right resources and training to teach pupils about mental health really can have a positive impact on young people’s wellbeing

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY



Giving schools the right resources and training to teach pupils about mental health really can have a positive impact on young people’s wellbeing.

New research by Welsh academics has just been published demonstrating the benefits of improving pupils’ mental health literacy and reducing the stigma around mental health issues at a crucial stage in a young person’s life.

Most mental health problems start in the teenage years with a recent survey identifying that two in five young people report mental health symptoms. However, due to poor knowledge of mental health issues, and stigma about mental health, most young people do not seek help.

Against this background, the team from Swansea and Cardiff universities worked with charity Action for Children to develop mental health literacy programme The Guide Cymru which consists of training for teachers, access to online resources and videos and classroom modules.

For the research a group of almost 2,000 pupils aged 13 to 14 from across Wales were divided in two for a 10-week randomized control trial with half of them experiencing The Guide, delivered by specially trained teachers.

Its findings, which have just been published by online journal BMC Public Health, showed the pupils given access to The Guide demonstrated improvements in nearly all areas, including mental health knowledge, better mental health behaviours, reduced mental health stigma and increased intentions to seek help for problems.

Swansea PhD student and co-author Nicola Simkiss said: “It is devastating to see children and young people struggling with mental health difficulties that go both unreported and untreated.

“We believe The Guide is an effective intervention that can help both children and teachers understand that mental health problems are common-place, just like physical health problems, and that they should seek help and not try to hide the problem.”

Swansea University’s Professor Nicola Gray, who is also consultant clinical and forensic psychologist for Swansea Bay University Health Board, said: “The Guide is important as it can be easily delivered as part of the school curriculum by teachers who know the students.”

She now hopes this will be the start of the process of embedding mental health education and intervention in schools: “The Guide can be the beginning of a process of open discussion about mental health and emotional challenges in schools, and how best our young people can learn about these problems and the most effective ways of seeking help when this is needed.”

Brigitte Gater, Action for Children’s Director for Wales, said: “To be able to show the benefits and impact of programmes like The Guide through academic research is incredibly important.  The intervention programme is a significant tool in improving the mental health of our children and young people in Wales.” 

Chris Dunne, Children’s Services Manager at Action for Children, added: “Children’s mental health remains a priority area and we hope that the results of the research will encourage schools to use it as part of their curriculum.”

Dr Dave Williams, Adviser to Chief Medical Officer and Welsh Government - Child & Adolescent Mental Health, said: “The Guide has proved an excellent resource to enable professionals to raise understanding and awareness of emotional and mental health and wellbeing. It plays a part in the Welsh aim of normalising emotional reponses while building the capacity of communities to support children and young people who require specialist help.”

Now the authors say they want to look to the future. Professor Robert Snowden, from Cardiff University, said: “The Guide did exactly what we had hoped it would. However, we need to follow up this research to see if these changes in knowledge and attitudes can translate into better mental health outcomes as these children develop from adolescents to young adults.”

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