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Poster #75 - Does Parent’s Interest in Science Relate to Their Child’s Science Interest?

Sat, March 23, 2:30 to 3:45pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Scientific thinking involves gathering information to use as evidence, reflecting on this information to evaluate the evidence, and revising one’s knowledge based on the evaluation (Kuhn, 2011). These cognitive skills are integral to scientific literacy (Zimmerman, 2007) and are increasingly important as nations confront challenges (e.g., climate change) that can be aided by scientific understanding in the populace at large. Research indicates that children have difficulty acquiring scientific thinking skills and applying them in everyday situations. These limitations can make children susceptible to misinformation about scientific matters (SHEG, 2017).
Children’s interest in science appears to be important to the development of scientific thinking skills. Interest in science is related to children’s academic achievement at age 13 (Marsh et al., 2005) and pursuit of science careers at age 15 (Lin et al., 2012). Science interest also motivates a deeper engagement with science activities in- and outside of school that can encourage children to inquire about science issues and explore science topics (Feinstein et al., 2013). Science interest can arise as children interact with the physical and social environment (Hidi & Renninger, 2006), e.g., when parents provide children with structured experience with science topics (Alexander et al., 2015). These findings raise several questions: Does parents’ science interest and children’s perception of their parents’ science interest relate to children’s interest in science? To answer these questions, this study investigated relations among parents’ science interest, children’s perception of their parent’s science interest, and children’s science interest.
Participants were 53 children (42% female), ages 9 (M = 9 yrs 6 mos) and 12 (M = 12 yrs 5 mos) years old, and their mothers. The sample was 42% European-American, 22% Latino/a, 6% African-American, 4% Asian-American, and 26% multiethnic and other. Children participated in a one-time laboratory visit in which they completed a 35-item (5-point scale) questionnaire measuring their science interest and were interviewed about their perceptions of their parents’ science interest. Mothers completed a 3-item (3-point scale) survey measuring their science interest. Responses, averaged across the measures, were used to indicate child science interest and parent science interest, respectively. Children’s interview responses about their parents’ interest in science were summed to indicate the child’s perception of parent’s science interest.
Children reported moderate science interest (M = 2.85, SD = 1.62) and perceived their parents as moderately interested in science (M = 3.62, SD = 0.59), with no age difference. Mothers reported high science interest (M = 2.46, SD = 0.42). Results of a linear regression (Table 1) showed that children’s science interest positively related to their perception of their parent’s science interest but not to parent’s reported science interest.
These results suggest that children’s perception that parents find science interesting may be more important to developing children’s science interest than parents’ actual self-reported interest. These findings have implications for educational programs that seek to promote children’s interest in science and STEM careers by suggesting that parents, regardless of occupation and background experience, can foster science interest in their children by showing an interest in science.

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