There is growing interest in stories as potentially powerful tools for science learning. In this mini-review article, we discuss theory and evidence indicating that, especially for young children, listening to and sharing stories with adult caregivers at home can make scientific ideas and inquiry practices meaningful and accessible. We review recent research offering evidence that stories presented in books can advance children’s science learning.
This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. It responds to continuing concerns about racial and social inequities in STEM fields that begin to emerge in the early childhood years. The overarching goal of the project is to identify cultural strengths that support early science learning opportunities among Spanish-speaking children from immigrant Latin American communities, a population that is traditionally underrepresented in STEM educational and career pursuits. Building on a growing interest in the ways stories can promote early engagement in and understanding of science, this project will investigate the role of oral and written stories as culturally relevant and potentially powerful tools for making scientific ideas and inquiry practices meaningful and accessible for young Latinx children. Findings will reveal ways that family storytelling practices can provide accessible entry points for Latinx children's early science learning, and recommend methods that parents and educators can use to foster learning about scientific practices that can, in turn, increase interest and participation in science education and fields.
The project will advance knowledge on the socio-cultural and familial experience of Latinx children that can contribute to their early science learning and skills. The project team will examine the oral story and reading practices of 330 Latinx families with 3- to 5-year-old children recruited from three geographic locations in the United States: New York, Chicago, and San Jose. Combining interviews and observations, the project team will investigate: (1) how conversations about science and nature occur in Latinx children's daily lives, and (2) whether and to what extent narrative and expository books, family personal narratives, and adivinanzas (riddles) engender family conversations about scientific ideas and science practices. Across- and within-site comparisons will allow the project team to consider the immediate ecology and broader factors that shape Latinx families’ science-related views and practices. Although developmental science has long acknowledged that early learning is culturally situated, most research on early STEM is still informed by mainstream experiences that largely exclude the lived experiences of children from groups underrepresented in STEM, especially those who speak languages other than English. The proposed work will advance understanding of stories as cultural resources to support early science engagement and learning among Latinx children and inform the development of high quality, equitable informal and formal science educational opportunities for young children.
The Discovery Center at Murfree Spring will partner with Mid-Cumberland Head Start to launch the SPARK! Head Start program to reach under-resourced early learners, families, and teachers in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Building on its successful STEM programming that integrates science with children's books, the museum will increase connections between science and literacy skills for 132 pre-K children ages three to five, and enhance the capacity of 16 teachers and two administrators within Rutherford County. Head Start will integrate and embed literacy and science process skills through hands-on STEM activities linked to children's literature and best practices. The project will also include programming designed to increase family engagement in STEM at the museum and at partnering Head Start centers.
We used a combination of keyword- and human-coding-based strategies to identify and characterize the degree to which four key science communication journals have included research articles focused on the communication of basic science (N = 2,386). These journals included Public Understanding of Science, Science Communication, the Journal of Science Communication, and the International Journal of Science Education, Part B: Communication and Public Engagement. Our intention is to give those interested in basic-science-related communication the ability to speak to the degree to which an evidence
In this paper, we examine the relationship between participants’ childhood science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related experiences, their STEM identity (i.e., seeing oneself as a STEM person), and their college career intentions. Whereas some evidence supports the importance of childhood (i.e., K‐4) informal STEM education experiences, like participating in science camps, existing research does not adequately address their relationship to STEM career intention later in life. Grounding our work in identity research, we tested the predictive power of STEM identity on career
In December of 2019, TERC and the University of Notre Dame convened 21 early childhood reading, family learning, and informal STEM education experts to explore the role of children’s fiction books as a tool for supporting STEM learning with young children and their families. Through the discussions, the group developed a series of recommendations for future research and practice, with a particular focus on integrating diversity and equity perspectives into the use of storybooks.
In December of 2019, TERC and the University of Notre Dame convened a group of 21 early childhood reading, family learning, and informal STEM education experts to explore the role of children’s fiction books as a tool for supporting STEM learning with young children and their families. Participants included educators and researchers from across the country representing a broad range of learning contexts, professional roles, audience focus areas, and STEM discipline expertise. Through the discussions, the group developed a series of recommendations for future work, with a particular focus on
The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument to assess civic scientific literacy measurement (SLiM), based on media coverage. A total of 50 multiple-choice items were developed based on the most common scientific terms appearing in media within Taiwan. These questions covered the subjects of biology (45.26%, 22 items), earth science (37.90%, 19 items), physics (11.58%, 6 items) and chemistry (5.26%, 3 items). A total of 1034 students from three distinct groups (7th graders, 10th graders, and undergraduates) were invited to participate in this study. The reliability of this instrument
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Carl-Johan RundgrenShu-Nu Chang RundgrenYuen-Hsien TsengPei-Ling LinChun-Yen Chang
Museums are on the up. More than fifty per cent of the UK population now visits one every year; with attendances across many western countries having grown as much as ten per cent in the last decade. During half that period, a variety of funding agencies and individuals have poured no less than five billion dollars into America’s museum infrastructure, with entirely new museums (such as the Eli Broad in LA and Smithsonian’s African American Museum) or hefty extensions of established ones (like that at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) being built as a consequence. While on the other side
van den Sanden and Vries curate reflections and insights about the shared goals, practices and processes which bring together academics and practitioners in science education and communication. The book spotlights areas of productive overlap but is just the beginning for meaningful collaboration.
Brewer and Ley surveyed 851 participants in a U.S. city and revealed relationships among demographic characteristics, religious beliefs, political views, and trust in multiple forms of science communication sources.
Years before encountering their first formal science lessons in elementary school, children may already be practicing scientific thinking on a weekly, if not daily, basis. In one recent survey, parents reported that their kindergartners engaged, on average, in more than 300 informal science education activities per year - watching science television shows, reading science-oriented books, and visiting museums and zoos (Korpan, Bisanz, Bisanz, Boehme, & Lynch, 1997). This strikes us as a lot, but it is likely to pale in comparison to what young children may experience five years from now