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Abstract There is considerable agreement among scientists, educators, and policymakers about the need to broaden participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Yet, equity requires much more than increasing STEM access for marginalized groups of children. In this invited commentary, we raise two critical points for the field to continue to grapple with as we investigate ways to engage young minds in STEM learning. It is critical that research with young children focuses on the process of doing science, while appreciating that the process of scientific thinking and learning are culturally constructed and situated. Specifically, as researchers and educators, we must do better at contextualizing children's scientific thinking process as it unfolds in their daily lives—with their peers, families, and in their cultural communities. Specific studies highlighted throughout this essay seek to document and promote family, community, and teaching practices that are effective for supporting young children's learning and explorations in STEM across our increasingly diverse society. We propose opportunities for future researchers to focus their efforts, including the following: more multidisciplinary work that includes synthesis across disciplines and methodological traditions; more diverse samples and investigative teams, such that cultural insiders are full participants; more descriptive studies focusing on the everyday experiences in children's lives that promote the development of scientific thinking and practices; and practice‐informed research. 

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. Nonetheless, most of this work focuses on middle-class European-American U. S. children and involves narrative story books. Given the national imperative to increase Latine 1 representation in STEM education and career pursuits in the U. S., we argue that it is vital that we broaden the definition of stories to include oral narrative storytelling and other conversational routines that Latine families engage in at home. Cultural communities with firmly rooted oral traditions, such as those from Latin American heritage, rely frequently on oral storytelling rather than book reading to convey world and community knowledge to young children. Therefore, we advocate for a strengths-based approach that considers Latine families’ everyday practices around science and storytelling on their own terms instead of contrasting them with European-American middle-class practices. We offer support for the view that for young children in Latine communities, culturally relevant oral practices, including personal narrative storytelling, can engender significant opportunities for family science learning at home. 

This article synthesizes findings from an international virtual conference, funded by the United States National Science Foundation, focused on the home mathematics environment (HME). In light of inconsistencies and gaps in research investigating relations between the HME and children’s outcomes, the purpose of the conference was to discuss actionable steps and considerations for future work. The conference was composed of international researchers with a wide range of expertise and backgrounds. Presentations and discussions during the conference centered broadly on the need to better operationalize and measure the HME as a construct—focusing on issues related to child, family, and community factors, country and cultural factors, and the cognitive and affective characteristics of caregivers and children. Results of the conference and a subsequent writing workshop include a synthesis of core questions and key considerations for the field of research on the HME. Findings highlight the need for the field at large to use multi-method measurement approaches to capture nuances in the HME, and to do so with increased international and interdisciplinary collaboration, open science practices, and communication among scholars.