Children’s Interactive Experiences and Meaning Making of Scientific Exhibits at Community Museum

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the interactive experiences and meaning-making strategies of science learning among children. By observing their informal science learning activities in a community natural history and science museum of Atlanta (USA), this research tries to understand children’s quest for science knowledge and possible evidence for science meaning-making. The nature of the study was qualitative, and ethnography was used as the methodology. Two primary sources of evidence for science learning were included: dialogic conversations between children and their parents and children’s behaviors as they interacted with certain exhibits within the Nature Quest area of the community museum. Only observations and field notes were used for data collection. Only children’s interactive exhibit experiences were selected for the study analysis. Three themes of personification, essence, and functional reasoning based on Ash (2003) framework were used to explore the children’s biological understandings of exhibits. An additional theme of problem-solving and collaborative skills emerged due to the specific nature of a few exhibits. Through these thematic analyses, children's meaning-making in the type of interactions was explored. The findings of the study indicate that most of their interactive experiences were brief and did not involve an in-depth scientific meaning-making process. However, it was evident that children had fun and remained engaged consistently with these exhibits, and their meaning- making of scientific phenomena was stress-free. Problem-solving was most apparent as a strategy in their search for scientific knowledge. So, vibrant learning environments must be created in such places to inspire curiosity and foster a deeper appreciation for science learning among children.