Parent Scaffolding during Guided Play and Children's Spatial Ability

Abstract

Parent scaffolding has been closely linked to children's learning. In the present study, we examined parents’ scaffolding behaviors during a dyadic spatial activity, and explored whether these behaviors related to child age and their spatial ability. Forty-five parents and their 4- and 5-year-old child (M= 4.82y, SD = 0.42y, n = 25 females) participated. Children's general and spatial vocabulary, as well as their mental rotation, and performance on two jigsaw puzzle tasks were assessed. Parent-child dyads then used a magnet board to create an elephant from a laminated card. Parent scaffolding, such as their use of gestures, labels and assistance with the activity, was coded. Parents tended to provide more scaffolding for younger children. Controlling for child age, parents provided more scaffolding for children who scored lower on the spatial and puzzle tasks. These results suggest that parents provided greater guidance to children with lower spatial ability.