Families Learning About Astronomy, Meteorology, and Engineering: Connecting Sociotechnical Interactions, Narrative, and Science Practices

• In Event: 47.073 - Weaving Stories Into STEM Learning

Abstract

Objective and Framework
Our project is investigating a model for personally-relevant learning workshops via a design-based research (DBR) methodology (Sandoval & Bell, 2004). In our work, we address: how do the sociotechnical interactions (Säljö, 2004) of families and story-telling narratives shape parent-child conversations during science-related workshops in libraries?
Dahlstrom’s (2014) literature review argues that narratives are effective pedagogical supports. Our project blends the prior work on narrative with the concept of personally-relevant learning (Authors, 2014) within our museum-library-university partnership. Personally-relevant learning is a form of sociocultural learning that focuses on supporting conversations that are consequential to people in their communities. Personally-relevant learning includes meaning-making talk where people can translate abstract concepts and science practices into community-oriented knowledge.

Methods and Data Sources
We investigated the family learning that occurred in 26 workshops led by 11 different STEM professionals covering five topics, focused on the science practices of observation and modeling: meteorology, astronomy, engineering, plants and groundwater. Multiple audio and video recorders captured families’ interactions at these workshops, which were held at public libraries and a small museums serving five rural and small-town communities.
Our full dataset consists of 96 unique families; for this analysis, we strategically sampled 16 families who attended three or more workshops. The video and audio records of 16 families attending multiple workshops are the primary data sources. Photographs of workshop artifacts and STEM professionals’ narratives serve as secondary data sources. Analytical techniques started with the contenting logging of each families’ workshops followed by interaction analysis sessions where researchers showed video excerpts from the families who attended multiple workshops. Tool use, role-taking, and narrative were identified as key concepts present in the interactions.
Descriptive in-depth analytical notes were created for each of the families’ workshop experiences (12-20 pages per family). Our themes were refined and key episodes were transcribed. The descriptive analytical notes were refined into more detailed analytical memos which layered in theory and interpretation.

Results and Significance
Parents and children took on different roles across the workshops. Parents were focused the inquiry and asked questions in the astronomy workshop related to observing galaxies. Parents and children were equally likely to take on leadership roles in the engineering workshops. The littleBit prototyping pieces were equally accessible to all; however, the younger children were less likely to deviate from provided examples unless an older child intervened. In meteorology, all family members acted as data recorders; however, parents were more likely to show facility with the tools provided.
In conclusion, our work illustrated the roles that parents and children take in collaborative workshops, with the content areas and tools influencing the role-taking by families across the workshops that they attended. This research has also produced findings of the impact of STEM experts’ stories within intergenerational workshops to engage parents in their child’s learning about personally-relevant science.

Authors

• Heather Toomey Zimmerman, The Pennsylvania State University

• Soo Hyeon Kim, The Pennsylvania State University

• Lucy R. McClain, The Pennsylvania State University

• Michele Crowl, Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania

• Zachary A. McKinley, The Pennsylvania State University

• XinYun Peng, The Pennsylvania State University