Poster #238 - Learning Physics in a Children’s Museum: Examining Parent-Child Communication during Digital Gameplay

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Technology, Media & Child Development

Integrative Statement

Parent-child conversations about exhibits in children’s museums can support children’s interest in and understanding of concepts (Palmquist & Crowley, 2007). Research shows children’s conceptual understanding increases when parents offer explanations and collaborative discussions (Fender & Crowley, 2007; Shtulman & Checa, 2012), teach concepts, show relations between concepts, focus on abstract knowledge, and facilitate associations between children’s prior knowledge and new learning (Jant et al., 2014). Additionally, emerging research shows that multi-user digital tabletops in museums can promote visitor interaction and exploration with complex scientific concepts (Dillenbourg & Evans, 2011; Louw & Crowley, 2013). However, few studies have examined visitor learning with the use of multi-touch tabletops in museums, and more research is needed in this area (Horn et al., 2016).

The present study was conducted in a newly-opened skatepark-themed children’s museum exhibit designed specifically to provide opportunities for families and children (age 5-8) to engage with the physics concepts of mass, momentum, gravity, friction, and force in the context of skateboarding. Both empirical evidence and best practice standards (Frye et al., 2013; NAEYC/NCTM, 2010; NRC, 2012; NGSS, 2013; PEAR Institute, 2017) were used to design 8 unique but related, age-appropriate and engaging exhibit activities. One exhibit component – an interactive, multi-touch, digital tabletop game -- was designed specifically to encourage visitor interaction through the play of creating and testing a virtual skatepark. The purpose of this study was to examine parent-child communicative acts during interactive play with this digital tabletop.

This poster explores two research questions: 1) To what extent do parents and children communicate about physics concepts during interactive tabletop gameplay? 2) To what extent does parent-child communication during interactive tabletop gameplay support children’s physics learning?

Study design. Seven parent-child dyads (children age 5-8) consented to 20 minutes of tabletop gameplay, and then children alone provided post-play oral reflection of the play in response to general, semi-structured questions. Both events were video recorded. To develop codes for videos of both activities, we used Elementary Next Generation Science Standards (2013). Codes of physics categories (force, friction, potential energy, mass, momentum, motion, gravity) and one additional category (off-topic) were applied to communicative acts by parents and children separately (see Table 1). Within these 8 categories, every communicative act was coded as “explicit” (e.g., verbal use of science term), “descriptive” (e.g., verbal description of science term), “implicit” (e.g., gesture, nonverbal), “explicit/implicit” (e.g., verbal use of science term with gesture), or “descriptive/implicit” (e.g., verbal description of science term with gesture).

Findings. Results suggest a range of physics-specific communicative acts from parents (range = 7% to 29% of all communication) and children (range = <1% to 6% of all communication). However, during child reflection post-play, results show substantially more physics-related communicative acts (M = 25%, range = 15% to 33%) from children, with evidence suggesting children learned explicit physics terms and concepts used by their parent. Overall findings suggest that parents play a meaningful role in children’s physics learning during play in children’s museums.

Authors

• Kristen Nicole Missall, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Salloni Nanda, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Caitlin Courshon, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Benjamin DeVane, University of Iowa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jeremy Dietmeier, University of iowa
  Non-Presenting Author