2019 AISL PI Meeting Poster: Tinkering Reflection and Engineering Learning

This poster was created for the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program Primary Investigator (PI) meeting. The research presented here is a summary of the various informal STEM learning opportunities offered as part of the collaboration between university researchers and museum practionners. We were interested in how museums can advance parent-child engagment in STEM-rich tinkering and reflection. The participants were able to take part of a few different activities that allowed for informal reflection and tinkering at the Tinkering Lab, a musuem exhibit that invites families to take part of different challenges such as Make it Roll and Woodshop Plus.

Before the tinkering activity started some families took part in a facilited orientaion to introduce important engineering concepts. During the activity, all families were given the opportunity to work together and test their creations. In some cases, the families were able to sit in the Story Hub booth and record their reflections about what they created. In others, the child was able to take part in an interview with a researcher and record a SNAP, or a short narrative about their project. We found that families who received orientations had higher STEM talk than those that didn't.