Families play an important role in informal science learning, but they may need supports for engaging in science that is exploratory, inquiry based, and builds on family practices. We designed resources that frame scientific sensemaking as an active and playful process of exploration in which family members are coparticipants. This approach…

This qualitative study examined the perspectives of African American parents as it pertained to informal science education. The following questions guided this study: (1) What are the desires of African American parents/guardians with respect to informal science programs and experiences for their children?; (2) What happens in Jordan Academy, an…

Informed by literature on childhood expertise in high-interest topics and parent-child conversation in museum settings, this study explored how children's level of dinosaur expertise influences family learning opportunities in a natural history museum. Interviews identified children with high and low dinosaur knowledge and assigned them to expert…

Children's activities related to science, nature, and technology were studied via structured interviews of parents and students in pre-school through upper-elementary grades. Interviews can be used to construct profiles of students to be used as a platform upon which to build instruction. Describes how interviews were developed, what type of…