Children’s exploration in informal learning environments

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

How might we increase children’s learning opportunities and engagement outside the classroom? Developmental scientists are becoming increasingly interested in the importance of informal learning in children’s lives. This work aims to bridge the gap between laboratory findings and the real-world settings in which children learn. The overarching goal of this symposium is to refine our understanding of how children explore and learn from informal learning spaces like museums.
The first paper discusses how parent-child dyads engage with science exhibits. It found high synchronicity in parent-child conversations (i.e., high topic maintenance), but differences in delivery, with parents providing more higher-order language than children (e.g., explanations). This work highlights the complementary role each actor plays in informal learning interactions. The second paper discusses how tinkering experiences foster learning opportunities for engineering design practices. It found that children who received tinkering instructions from museum facilitators showed increased engagement - that is, they were more likely to test their creations. The third paper discusses how the messaging of a circuit exhibit can alter children’s engagement with it. It found children who received growth-mindset messages when their exploration was more complex, showed greater engagement in exhibit related challenges. Finally, the fourth paper discusses how verbal prompting influences the information children seek when learning about mechanical machines. It found that children who received a prompt highlighting the machines’ internal components, recalled more information about its components, and appeared more knowledgeable than those that did not. Presenters will discuss implications for the design of informal learning spaces.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Elizabeth Attisano, University of Waterloo

Individual Presentations

• “What’s an alpaca?”: An observational examination of parent-child conversations during informal learning - Presenting Author: Kathleen Bettencourt, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Non-Presenting Author: Courtney Leighann Ball, University of Notre Dame; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica Stark Caporaso, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Non-Presenting Author: Kimberly Marble, Vanderbilt University; Non-Presenting Author: Janet J Boseovski, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Non-Presenting Author: Stuart Marcovitch, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Promoting children’s engagement in engineering design practices in a children’s museum - Presenting Author: Maria Marcus, Roosevelt University; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine A. Haden, Loyola University Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Pirko Tõugu, University of Tartu, Estonia; Non-Presenting Author: David H. Uttal, Northwestern University

• Order of experience with growth mindset messages influences children’s engagement with STEM in a museum - Presenting Author: Laura Stricker, Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: David Marc Sobel, Brown University

• How children discuss machines in museum exhibits - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Attisano, University of Waterloo; Non-Presenting Author: Shaylene E. Nancekivell, University of Manitoba; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Denison, University of Waterloo