Science Knowledge Integration in Everyday Family Settings

• In Event: Knowledge Integration: Trajectories, Opportunities, and Future Directions

Abstract

Theoretical Framework. The knowledge integration (KI) framework (Linn & Eylon, 2006) has guided design of learning environments (e.g., Kaly, 2006) and study of designed environments (e.g., Songer, & Linn, 1991). This study explores KI in undesigned family settings, where children and their parents serendipitously engage with science content and practices. The study investigates how children integrate knowledge in family settings and how parents and siblings support or hinder it. By analyzing the dynamic relationships between cognitive, social, and emotional dimensions of KI in everyday settings, this work identifies opportunities for taking advantage of the four features of KI. The study investigates whether: (1) science content and practice are made accessible or inaccessible to children; (2) thinking and feeling are made visible or concealed; (3) social interaction supports or hinders KI; and (4) autonomy is promoted or discouraged.
Objectives. Following the KI framework, I view children's ideas as a resource for everyday learning and explore "the dynamic process of linking… and structuring models of scientific phenomena" (Linn, 2000, p.783), as these spontaneously emerge in family life. I draw on prior work on the dynamic processes of epistemic autonomy, agency and affect (Jaber& Hammer, 2016) to analyze variation across people, time and contexts.
Methods & Data Sources. Using data collected through self-ethnography (Alvesson, 2003), this study follows one family throughout a year: 305 science engagement events were audio-recorded by the mother (the author), resulting in a corpus of 27 hours of family conversations. Using linguistic ethnographic methods (Rampton et al., 2015) I analyze textual trajectories (Maybin, 2017) of discourse within and across events. These include (1) scanning the data to identify KI events; (2) coding for KI processes (e.g., what knowledge is integrated, by whom and how); (3) micro-analyzing socio-emotional processes that afford or constrain KI; and (4) generalizing across events to identify actions that contribute to autonomy.
Results. Analysis of everyday serendipitous KI events shows that KI is often driven by spontaneous "scientification" of mundane objects in mixed-aged interactions, illustrating how families can make science accessible. Analysis illuminates the complex dynamic relationships between everyday settings, scientific content or practice, information sources, materials, tools and artifacts and how navigating these relationships can promote or stand in the way of KI. For example, analysis revealed the importance of children's emergent questions (rather than their answers). Children made their thoughts and feelings visible in questions and provided an opportunity for KI. However, the questions became a barrier to KI if they were ignored or answered superficially. Taking children’s questions seriously requires figuring out how to encourage the KI process of gathering evidence, distinguishing ideas, and sparking reflection, often over several days.
Significance. This study illustrates how KI arises serendipitously in the family context and shows how the KI features contribute to productive conversations. It offers a nuanced account of the forms in which children integrate knowledge in undesigned every-day settings, highlighting the need for adults to consider the child’s socio-emotional and cognitive processes. Next steps include resolving methodological challenges of studying family engagement with science and exploring connections between home and formal environments.

Author

• Dana Vedder-Weiss, Ben Gurion University of the Negev