Effects of Facilitation vs. Exhibit Labels on Caregiver-Child Interactions at a Museum Exhibit

Abstract

In museum settings, caregivers support children's learning as they explore and interact with exhibits. Museums have developed exhibit design and facilitation strategies for promoting families' exploration and inquiry, but these strategies have rarely been contrasted. The goal of the current study was to investigate how prompts offered through staff facilitation vs. labels printed on exhibit components affected how family groups explored a circuit blocks exhibit, particularly whether children set and worked toward their own goals, and how caregivers were involved in children's play. We compared whether children, their caregivers, or both set goals as they played together, and the actions they each took to connect the circuits. We found little difference in how families set goals between the two conditions, but did find significant differences in caregivers' actions, with caregivers in the facilitation condition making fewer actions to connect circuits while using the exhibit, compared to caregivers in the exhibit labels condition. The findings suggest that facilitated and written prompts shape the quality of caregiver-child interactions in distinct ways.

Relations between children's exploration in a children's museum and their reflections about their exploration

“…Children explore exhibits more with others, based on the dynamics of their own actions and the nature of their social interactions (e.g., Callanan et al, 2020; Crowley et al, 2001; Fender & Crowley, 2007; Tare et al, 2011). Interventions on the part of researchers or the museum can affect children's exploration and family interactions (e.g., Letourneau et al, 2021; van Schijndel et al, 2010; Willard et al, 2019). How children and families interact at an exhibit also relates to children's engagement with the content of the exhibit (e.g., Sobel et al, 2020; Spiegel et al, 2012).…”

Parent–child interaction during a home STEM activity and children’s handwashing behaviors

“…Such investigations would also address another limitation of this study, which is that we relied on the natural-occurring interaction style between parents and children in the Participate condition, and did not manipulate the autonomy children might have believed they had during their participation. This could also be considered in further reproduction, much like how parent–child interaction to promote exploration or explanation can be manipulated through subtle instructions given to parents prior to their interaction with their children (e.g., Willard et al, 2019 ; Letourneau et al, 2021 ). However, one could also consider this particular limitation as a feature: Relying on the interaction style that manifested in our random sample is more representative than empirically manipulating children’s perceived autonomy.…”

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Engagement From Parent-Child Interaction in Informal Learning Environments

“…The more parents did to complete the goal, the less likely children were to demonstrate that knowledge later on. In a follow-up study, Letourneau et al (2021) showed that when the same exhibit was facilitated by a museum educator who gave brief, open-ended prompts designed to support families’ exploration, parents engaged in fewer of these goal-completion behaviors, particularly compared with a condition in which a facilitator was not present but the same prompts were written on the circuit blocks themselves.…”