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Museums and science centers are capable of challenging traditional and hierarchical pedagogies (Kratz & Merritt, 2011) by integrating STEM content learning with the knowledge and cultural wealth available within local communities. The current study took place within the context of a long-term partnership between a science center and a local public preschool in a culturally and linguistically diverse, urban community in the northeastern US. This study brought together preschool educators, caregivers, and museum staff to co-design new STEAM enrichment possibilities for young children and their families. 

Many studies have documented the impact of maker experiences on children's learning, but few have examined how caregivers participate in maker activities in museums, both as facilitators of their children's learning and as learners in their own right. This qualitative study involved observations and interviews with 88 caregivers participating in a range of making and tinkering activities at a science museum. Aspects of the physical setting (including the arrangement and familiarity of tools and materials) and social setting (including facilitators' interactions with children versus caregivers) influenced whether families participated and the roles that caregivers played (observing, facilitating, or making). Across these roles, caregivers described benefitting as learners -- by noticing their children's abilities and interests, learning new ways to support their children's learning, or fostering their own creativity. The results highlight strategies that museums can use to create inclusive maker activities that recognize caregivers' many roles and motivations during family visits. 

In this design-based research project, researchers and activity developers across four institutions are investigating how narratives can evoke empathy and influence girls’ participation and engagement in museum-based engineering design activities. The project involves the development and testing of six pairs of engineering activities. Through iterative development of these activity pairs, we have refined a conceptual model defining how engineering activities can incorporate a variety of narrative elements to support empathy and engagement. In addition, each pair includes one version of the activity with narrative elements, and one without — for example, children design a vehicle that can move over different textured surfaces (non-narrative) or that can help someone travel around the world across different landscapes (narrative), allowing us to examine how narrative elements influence girls’ ideation and persistence in iterating their designs. We analyzed the number of children who participated in each version of the activities, average hold times, and detailed observations and follow-up interviews with girls between ages 7-14 who tried the activities with their families. Results showed that narrative versions invited greater participation among both girls and boys, and that different narrative elements (such as characters and settings) evoked different aspects of empathy (such as affective responses and cognitive perspective-taking). We discuss the implications of the results for the design and facilitation of inclusive engineering design experiences in informal learning settings. 

Young children are capable of engaging in scientific and mathematical thinking, but often have few opportunities to use math as a tool for understanding the world. This article describes the development and implementation of a museum‐based after‐school workshop that introduced young children and their families to data science, an applied field that involves real‐world observations. Through three iterations of the workshop, the museum developed strategies for engaging families in interest‐driven cycles of data collection, organization, and interpretation. The workshop used design and making to motivate exploration of data and highlight the utility of mathematics for answering questions and guiding decisions. Children (ages 5–8) gathered data about museum exhibits (including size, features, visitors’ preferences, etc.) and applied what they learned to create models of their own exhibit ideas. We discuss the theoretical basis for the program, the process by which it was iteratively developed, and the final structure of the workshop activities and curriculum.

 

Play is critical for children's learning, but there is significant disagreement over whether and how parents should guide children's play. The objective of the current study was to examine how parent–child interaction affected children's engagement and problem‐solving behaviors when challenged with similar tasks. Parents and 4‐ to 7‐year‐old children in the U.S. (N = 111 dyads) played together at an interactive electric circuit exhibit in a children's museum. We examined how parents and children set and accomplished goals while playing with the exhibit materials. Children then participated in a set of challenges that involved completing increasingly difficult circuits. Children whose parents set goals for their interactions showed less engagement with the challenge task (choosing to attempt fewer challenges), and children whose parents were more active in completing the circuits while families played with the exhibit subsequently completed fewer challenges on their own. We discuss these results in light of broader findings on the role of parent–child interaction in museum settings.