Daily Dynamics of Children's Science Learning: Associations With Fluctuations in Attention and Family Stress

Abstract Though children's learning occurs through daily experiences, few studies have examined how variability in those experiences predict day‐to‐day learning. Here, we explored associations among learning, attention, and parental stress within and across children. Children aged 5–7 ( N = 103, M age = 6.3 years) participated in eight virtual science lessons over 2 weeks ( N = 813 lessons). Within‐child, greater attention during lessons predicted greater learning ( d within = .23). Within‐child, parent stress was not associated with attention or learning, but across children, greater parent stress was associated with lower attention ( d between = −.63). Children's attention ( d within = −.21) and science learning ( d within = −.24) declined across lessons. Declines in learning were stronger for children whose parents reported higher levels of daily stress ( d = −.27). These results suggest that differences in children's science learning may emerge from differences in attention in the moment and variability in learning trajectories over time.