ABSTRACT Visitors to public science festivals have a tremendous amount of free choice to decide how to navigate through the festival, as well as when, where, and how long to stop at an exhibit. This study examines how elementary-aged children individually or collaboratively engaged with festival exhibits at a public science festival in St. Petersburg, Florida. Although many exhibit activities are designed to appeal to children, no research has been done with regard to child engagement with one-day, outdoor science festivals, such as this one. Engagement can be measured by unobtrusive observation of the behavior and interactions of children. Factors that influenced child engagement in a free-choice learning environment included attention capacity and goals (e.g. engage with exhibits, explore the ambient environment, eat lunch), the ability to interact with peers and adults during their engagement, and the ability to make choices about engaging in collaborative activities or independent free play.

中文翻译：

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碎片，硅藻和海豚：在公共科学节上追踪儿童的参与度

摘要参加公共科学节的游客可以自由选择，以决定如何浏览艺术节，以及何时，何地以及在展览中停留的时间。这项研究探讨了在佛罗里达州圣彼得堡举行的公共科学节上，小学生如何单独或共同参与节日展览。尽管许多展览活动都是为了吸引孩子而设计的，但尚未开展有关儿童参与这样的一日户外科学节的研究。可以通过对孩子的行为和互动的观察来衡量参与度。影响儿童在自由选择学习环境中参与度的因素包括注意力的能力和目标（例如参与展览，探索周围环境，吃午餐），