ABSTRACT

Informal science educators’ goals for preschool-age audiences (ages 3–5 years) shape how they design opportunities for children and families to learn science. However, little research has explored the opportunities provided by informal science educators for preschool-age children to engage in science practices. We invited 12 informal science educators across multiple informal science venues (including nature parks, planetaria, and science centers) in the U.S. to be interviewed and observed facilitating programs with a preschool-age audience at their venue. Using thematic analysis, we found that while four out of twelve educators in our study provided opportunities for young children to engage in science practices, the remaining programs provide only intermittent (four educators) or no opportunities (four educators) for young visitors to do science as an active, social engagement with science phenomena in the natural world. The extent to which educators designed and engaged preschool-age children in science practices was reflected in their own beliefs about how young children do science. These findings can help researchers and practitioners develop professional development to support the informal science education community to build capacity towards deepening young visitors’ engagement with science as an evidence-based enterprise.

摘要

非正式科学教育者针对学龄前儿童（3-5 岁）的目标决定了他们如何为儿童和家庭设计学习科学的机会。然而，很少有研究探讨非正式科学教育者为学龄前儿童提供的参与科学实践的机会。我们邀请了来自美国多个非正式科学场所（包括自然公园、天文馆和科学中心）的 12 位非正式科学教育者接受采访，并在他们的场所观察了与学龄前观众一起开展的项目。通过主题分析，我们发现虽然我们研究中的 12 位教育工作者中有 4 位为幼儿提供了参与科学实践的机会，. 教育工作者设计学龄前儿童并让他们参与科学实践的程度反映在他们自己对幼儿如何做科学的信念上。这些发现可以帮助研究人员和从业者发展专业发展，以支持非正式科学教育社区建设能力，以加深年轻访客对科学的参与，并将其作为一个循证企业。