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Peer-reviewed article

Tinkering With Testing: Understanding How Museum Program Design Advances Engineering Learning Opportunities for Children

July 8, 2021 | Public Programs, Exhibitions

Using a design-based research approach, we studied ways to advance opportunities for children and families to engage in engineering design practices in an informal educational setting. 213 families with 5–11-year-old children were observed as they visited a tinkering exhibit at a children’s museum during one of three iterations of a program posing an engineering design challenge. Children’s narrative reflections about their experience were recorded immediately after tinkering. Across iterations of the program, changes to the exhibit design and facilitation provided by museum staff corresponded to increased families’ engagement in key engineering practices. In the latter two cycles of the program, families engaged in the most testing, and in turn, redesigning. Further, in the latter cycles, the more children engaged in testing and retesting during tinkering, the more their narratives contained engineering-related content. The results advance understanding and the evidence base for educational practices that can promote engineering learning opportunities for children.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Maria Marcus
    Author
    Roosevelt University
  • Diana Acosta
    Author
    Loyola University Chicago
  • Pirko Tougu
    Author
    University of Tartu
  • David Uttal
    Author
    Northwestern University
  • 200207 Headshots 45
    Author
    Loyola University Chicago
  • Citation

    DOI : 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689425
    Publication Name: Frontiers in Psychology

    Funders

    NSF
    Funding Program: Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
    Award Number: 1515788
    NSF
    Funding Program: Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
    Award Number: 1515771
    NSF
    Funding Program: Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
    Award Number: 1516541
    Resource Type: Research Products
    Discipline: Education and learning science | Engineering
    Audience: Elementary School Children (6-10) | Middle School Children (11-13) | Pre-K Children (0-5) | Families | Museum/ISE Professionals | Evaluators | Learning Researchers
    Environment Type: Public Programs | Making and Tinkering Programs | Museum and Science Center Programs | Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits

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