STEM Learning Through a Web of Stories and Storytelling

• In Event: 47.073 - Weaving Stories Into STEM Learning

Abstract

Objective
In this poster, we explore how different forms of stories and storytelling connect to and build on each other, together scaffolding family STEM learning during inquiry-based activities in a museum program.

Framework
Researchers have been exploring ways to use storytelling to support non­-experts in science learning. They suggest that stories and storytelling, in contrast to the typical logical approach used with scientific thinking, tend to be more relatable and engaging to non­-expert audiences and, in turn, increase understanding (Conle, 2003; Dahlstrom, 2014). Building on this research, we take a sociocultural perspective on learning, focusing on learning in family interactions (Callanan & Jipson, 2001). In our project, we examine how different forms of stories and storytelling work synergistically to engage families and support connecting to their own experiences and scientific sensemaking (Luce et al., 2017; Ochs et al., 1992).

Method
Our qualitative design-­based research study involving museum practitioners, librarians, and STEM experts focuses on STEM learning in rural families with children ages 8-10 years old. To examine the impact of different types of stories and storytelling on family STEM learning, two cohorts of families (15 families) from local communities participated in a series of successive all-day workshops, each encompassing aspects of STEM and inquiry-based activities. Workshops were co-facilitated by expert(s), museum practitioner(s), and librarian(s). The types of stories that were interwoven included expert personal experiences, the use of fiction and nonfiction literature, and the view of science as a messy story. Family storytelling activities included creative writing, a mock science conference, the series culmination with the families developing, sharing, and publishing their own book based on their experiences in the series. We video-recorded family interactions throughout the workshops and audio-recorded follow-up phone interviews with families after each workshop. Further, books created by the families over the course of the series provided, in physical form, the meaning families made from the workshop series as a whole.

Results
Our analyses focused on explicit references to stories and family interactions when hearing stories and during storytelling activities. We coded for connections to themselves, scientific sensemaking, and were also open to emerging themes.

The different forms of stories and storytelling built off of each other, impacting families in varying ways. Many families reported being engaged and were able to connect with experts’ personal journey stories. Hearing expert field work stories coupled with learning about scientific and engineering processes as messy, iterative stories, scaffolded families in their scientific sensemaking. Providing opportunities for the families to write provided a number of experiences to play with different forms and learn about difference approaches to STEM learning. The stories and resources that the librarians provided motivated and enabled families to continue to pursue their interests in reading and storytelling outside the workshops. Further illustration of this complex web of stories will be discussed.

Scholarly significance
Through our project we are clarifying the ways in which different forms of stories and storytelling can be combined to support family STEM learning in informal learning experiences.

Authors

• Deborah Siegel, Institute for Learning Innovation

• Christina Cid, High Desert Museum

• Jon Nelson, High Desert Museum

• Carolyn Nesbitt, High Desert Museum

• Theresa Coble, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Josie Hanneman, Deschutes Public Library

• Tim Hiller, Wildlife Ecology Institute

• Francois Schneyder

• Chandra vanEijnsbergen, Deschutes Public Library

• Alysia Wolf, High Desert Museum