Digital Storytelling during Family Tinkering Activities Supports Children’s Engineering Talk and Memory

• In Event: Tinkerer, Investigator, Learner, Scientist: Promoting children’s active role in informal STEM conversations

Abstract

Digital storytelling, in which video and photos are used to share experiences with others, is becoming a common practice for families (Robin, 2008). Bruner (1996) proposed that storytelling can help children organize and make meaning of their experiences, and Vygostky (1978) theorized that egocentric speech, in which children talk aloud as they work through a complex activity, can ease cognitive load and promote learning. In the current study, we examined how digital storytelling during an at-home tinkering activity could support family engineering talk and children’s memory. We predicted that digital storytelling would encourage families to focus on communicating their tinkering experience with others, thereby supporting engineering learning.
Eighty-four families with 5-10 year old children (M = 7.69 years) completed a museum-designed tinkering activity in their homes via Zoom. Families had thirty minutes to make a ramp to move something important from “here” to “there.” Some families were asked to pretend they were making a digital story for an online audience as they were tinkering, whereas others were asked to work how they normally would. Families reflected about their tinkering experience immediately after. Two weeks after the tinkering session, children were interviewed about what they remembered about tinkering.
Recordings of families’ tinkering sessions and reflections were transcribed and coded for the frequency of talk about engineering practices (i.e., setting goals, brainstorming, planning, testing, identifying problems, redesigning). To further understand the influence of digital storytelling on the learning process, we also coded families’ references to their “imaginary audience” during tinkering. Children’s follow-up interviews were transcribed and coded to examine how many unique pieces of information children recalled about their engineering design process during tinkering.
Multiple regression analyses were used to examine our research questions (means and standard deviations for family talk variables in Table 1). Participation in the digital storytelling condition predicted parents’ (F(1, 78) = 5.92, p < .05; β = 0.25, p < .05) and children’s references to their imaginary audience during tinkering (F(1, 79) = 5.45, p < .05; β = 0.26, p < .05). Participation in the digital storytelling condition also predicted children’s engineering talk during reflection (F(6, 72) = 2.52, p < .05; β = 0.29, p < .01) and their memory for their engineering process at follow-up (F(2,76) = 4.44, p = .015; β = 0.28, p < .05). We further found that families’ references to their imaginary audience predicted children’s engineering talk at reflection (F(6, 72) = 2.52, p < .05; β = 0.25, p < .05) and their engineering memory at follow-up (F(6,70) = 5.05, p < .01; β = 0.38, p < .01).
Digital storytelling during learning activities may provide a familiar framework for parents and children to verbalize their thoughts and ideas in a way that is understandable to others, thereby facilitating their STEM learning. Implications for informal educational practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Lauren C Pagano, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Riley E George

• Afnan A. Amdeen

• David H. Uttal, Northwestern University

• Catherine A. Haden, Loyola University Chicago