Prior Experiences Shaping Family Science Conversations at a Nature Center

Abstract

Using families as the analytical focus, this study informs the field of informal science education with a focus on the role of prior experiences in family science conversations during nature walks at an outdoor‐based nature center. Through video‐based research, the team analyzed 16 families during walks at a nature center. Each family's prior science learning experience provided conversational strategies for learning together as a social group and when making meaning out of observations in the outdoors. This analysis provides three main findings: (1) families frequently tapped into a vast repertoire of previous experiences during conversations about nature and very often, explicitly sourced a specific prior experience in their dialogue with one another; (2) when families sourced a prior experience, they almost exclusively named an experience from a nonschool setting, with everyday experiences, designed spaces (i.e., informal institutions), and programs for science learning being the most common experiences cited; and (3) families leveraged references to prior experiences during family science conversations to serve four primary facilitation processes in conversation: reminding, prompting, explaining, and orienting. Implications from this study emphasize the importance of referencing previous life experiences during family science conversations as a meaning‐making tool and for additional research on families learning science in outdoor education spaces.

Family learning outdoors: Guided participation on a nature walk

“…A focus on family learning has emerged over the past decade (see Ellenbogen, Luke, & Dierking, ) both in environmental education (e.g., Ballantyne, Fien, & Packer, ; Duvall & Zint, ) and in informal science education (Bell et al, ; Ellenbogen et al, ). Research on learning related to biology and the environment has occurred at aquaria (Kisiel et al, ; Rigney & Callanan, ; Rowe & Kisiel, ), homes (Zimmerman, ), zoos (Falk et al, ; Fraser & Sickler, ), science centers (Ash, ; Gutwill & Allen, ; Zimmerman et al, ), botanical gardens (Eberbach & Crowley, ; Tal, ; Zimmerman et al, ), nature centers (Kimble, ; McClain & Zimmerman, ; Zimmerman & McClain, ), and natural history museums (Palmquist & Crowley, ; Tare, French, Frazier, Diamond, & Evans, ). Methodologies across these studies of biology and environmental learning in informal settings include conversational analysis, experimental approaches, designed interventions, and developmental psychology controlled investigations.…”

“…Guided participation applies to supporting out‐of‐school science thinking because everyday social cognition is often facilitated through intergenerational interactions that bridge meanings between a shared experience and the new experience. For example, one family member may connect a new biological observation to a previously shared family experience at a zoo, garden, or park (Callanan & Jipson, ; Eberbach & Crowley, ; McClain & Zimmerman, ). Guided participation in family science learning occurs when parents support youths’ participation by structuring and filtering scientific information for their children in order to support sensemaking (Crowley & Jacobs, ; Palmquist & Crowley, ), yet children can also take charge of their approach to learning.…”

“…In informal learning research, parents adapt their facilitation strategies based on expressed interests (Crowley & Jacob, 2002;Zimmerman et al, 2010a), perceived traits or gender of the child (Crowley, Callanan, Tenenbaum, & Allen, 2001), and shared prior knowledge and experiences (McClain & Zimmerman, 2014a;Palmquist & Crowley, 2007;Zimmerman, 2012). Here, we add to these findings about facilitation that supports learners' interests in out-of-school settings to illustrate how maternal elders approached guided participation related to the field guide cultural tool with an eye not only toward individuals' interests but also towards balancing the interests of family members when in conflict.…”

Family connections to local science issues: how scientists use questions to engage families in personally-relevant learning during science-themed workshops

“…The sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978) maintains that learning is a process that is shaped by the context in which a learning activity is situated, the tools available to support that learning, and the learning partners present during the experience. In the case of family learning, there is typically at least one adult and one child present (Dierking & Falk, 1994) that share a life-history and common memories of events (McClain & Zimmerman, 2014). The social learning experience of a family is different from other social groups in that families have unique experiences and cultural values that inherently influence how their learning process unfolds together.…”

“…Family science learning at informal settings Informal institutions are important settings that provide family sensemaking opportunities related to science and other topics McClain & Zimmerman, 2014;Zimmerman & McClain, 2016) When families visit informal institutions (e.g. museums, aquariums, zoos, nature centers), they come equipped with their own means of communicating with each other, a pre-established set of values, and shared memories of past experiences (Ellenbogen et al, 2004;McClain & Zimmerman, 2014;Zimmerman & McClain, 2016). Given that families include an adult and a child (or two siblings), a family learning experience is inherently social.…”