Chapters authored
Technology-Enhanced Parent Involvement in Science Education
Parent involvement is a critical facet of academic success. Empirical studies and meta analyses highlight that it can increase students’ motivation, self-efficacy, and academic performance. Even though they recognize the importance of being involved, minority and immigrant parents are likely to have lower levels of parent involvement than white parents. This could be a contributing factor to the academic gaps that exist between white students and minority and immigrant students. Technology can provide new ways to increase parent involvement and can address equity issues by providing more innovative and flexible opportunities for parents to be involved in their students’ academic experiences. This chapter summarizes ideas from (ESPRIT) Fostering Equitable Science through Parent Involvement and Technology, a National Science Foundation funded project that utilizes a technology-rich social learning environment (SLE) to engage middle school science teachers and student-parent pairs in culturally responsive, science-related activities. A new model of parent involvement is presented, followed by a discussion of the roles parents play as they participate in the SLE activities with their children.
Part of the book: The Role of Technology in Education