A Detailed Analysis of Family Utilization of Science Activity Packs

• In Event: Supporting Family Talk and Practice Around Science for Young Children

Abstract

Science education is undervalued and overlooked within preschool and elementary education (Trygstad, Smith, Banilower & Nelson, 2013). Science affords young children a myriad of opportunities to practice cognitive and language skills that are important for children developmentally (French, 2004, NRC, 2007). Young children are natural scientists and can engage in sophisticated scientific reasoning and challenging tasks with appropriate scaffolding by adults or siblings (Vygotsky, 1978). Parental engagement in their child’s education is key to child success in school, but unfortunately the parental engagement that does occur usually has nothing to do with science (Jeynes, 2010; Shymansky et al., 2000).

Families are the largest visitor group to museums, and science museums in particular seem to attract families with young children and families from under-represented populations in science (Wilkening, 2010). Since many families utilize informal science learning experiences, it is possible that this venue can serve as a non-threatening way to better engage parents in their child’s science education (Luke & McCreedy, 2010).

Research on family interactions in museums and everyday settings has shown that parents can be powerful facilitators in scaffolding their child’s scientific thinking (Crowley, Callanan, Jipson, Galco, Topping & Shrager, 2001; Crowley Callanan, Tenenbaum & Allen, 2001; Fender & Crowley, 2007, Gutwill & Allen, 2009). Understanding how to scaffold early childhood informal science learning experiences such as science activities or families to do at home that arappealing to families may lead to increased parental engagement with their child’s science education and ultimately lead to increased academic achievement. Therefore, research on family use of family science activity packs may fill a critical gap in the literature and provide more information about how to design and implement these types of science learning experiences for families.

In this session, a research study concerning the family science activity packs will be discussed. Five families with children ranging in age from 4 to 8 were videotaped completing four science activity packs over time. The videos, video transcripts and observation field notes were analyzed through a hybrid approach utilizing a deductive pre-determined set of codes (for questions, talk moves and inquiry behaviors) that are based on the literature (Boyatzis, 1998; Creswell, 2014) and a data-driven inductive approach for thematic analysis of the data collected. The analysis of the nature of the discourse (questioning and talk moves), inquiry behaviors exhibited and interactions between family members will be presented. This information will prove to be helpful to early childhood and informal educators alike when developing learning experiences for families. Ultimately, by improving these learning experiences, it may be possible to enhance family engagement with science.

Authors

• Lacey Jean Strickler Eppard, University of Toledo

• Charlene M. Czerniak, University of Toledo