Daily Dynamics of Children’s Attention and Learning

Though children’s learning occurs through daily experiences, few studies have examined how variability in those experiences predict day-to-day learning. This study used a unique daily learning paradigm to explore what creates variability in young children’s science learning, within and across children. Children (N = 103, Mage = 6.3 years, 47% female) participated in eight virtual, one-on-one science lessons over two weeks (N = 813 lessons). Children completed brief post-lesson assessments and a cumulative post-test assessment of their learning. Trained coders assessed children’s attention during video-recorded lessons as well as the accuracy of children’s recall at the end of each lesson. Parents reported their overall perceived stress as well as their daily stress. Children who paid more attention during lessons learned more (dbetween = 1.18) and children learned more on days that they paid more attention than usual (dwithin = 0.23). Mean daily parent stress predicted lower child attention during lessons (dbetween = -0.63), but within-child variability in daily stress did not predict daily attention. Average daily parent stress was not associated with average daily science learning. Children’s science learning declined across lessons (d = -0.24) and this association was stronger for children whose parents reported higher levels of daily stress (d = -0.27). At post-test, overall parental stress was negatively associated with worse science learning (B = -0.17). These findings suggest that differences in children’s science learning may emerge through differences in attention in the moment, learning across lessons, and later recall.