How Mayan mothers with different amounts of schooling organize a problem-solving discussion with children

This study investigated how two groups of Guatemalan Mayan mothers varying in schooling experience organized children’s participation in a problem-solving discussion. Twenty-eight foursomes of mothers and three children (ages 6-12 years) were videotaped discussing how to solve the shortage of drinking water in their town. Mayan mothers with no or very little schooling (0-2 grades) more often facilitated children’s verbal contributions through open invitations without assigning particular children to respond, whereas Mayan mothers with greater schooling experience (12 or more grades) more often structured children’s contributions through individual turn taking and test questions. These observed differences in mothers’ structuring of children’s participation may be associated with how western schooling and other practices associated with modernization are affecting the cultural practices of a Mayan community that is becoming increasingly more modernized.