Mother’s, father’s regulation and child’s self-regulation in a computer-mediated learning situation

Abstract

This study has explored the parents’ regulation strategies that were more likely to support children’s self-regulation in learning situations with computers. These strategies have been analysed by means of new grids involving seven categories of behaviour: cognitive strategies relating to identification of objective, exploration of means, attention and evaluation; motivational strategies; and socio-communicative strategies such as joint attention and request. 62 7-year-old children from Quebec families were examined with their mothers and fathers. The children were asked to complete two learning tasks that involved using LOGO software to draw a picture. Results indicated that parents’ regulation varied depending on their gender; a higher directivity was observed in mothers, more specifically through some specific strategies. Analysis of variance on repeated measures showed that, during the session, there was a decrease in the specification of the objective, the initiation of joint attention and of behaviour regulation in parents; and an improvement of the identification of the objective, planning and self-evaluation in children. Correlations between parental regulation and children’s self-regulation strategies indicated positive links concerning strategies relating to joint attention and to motivation; and negative links concerning strategies relating to the exploration of means and evaluation. A good adjustment of the parents’ regulation and the children’s self-regulation correlated positivel with success in the task. Methodological implications are proposed for research and psycho-educative intervention.