Encouraging Exploration: How Facilitation Supports Children's STEM Talk in Museums

Our research is aimed at understanding educational practices that can support children’s early STEM learning in informal educational settings, including museums. Program design and facilitation strategies used by museum staff can promote conversations about STEM concepts (Mohabir et al., 2021) and provide opportunities for increased parent-child engagement while tinkering (Letourneau et al., 2021). Our study examines how family engagement in an orientation provided by museum staff at the outset of a tinkering activity, as well as facilitation as families engaged in tinkering might support children’s STEM talk during and after a tinkering activity.