Benefits and Recommendations From This Research

STEM sites may enhance teen educators’ STEM interest and academic motivation by integrating social-emotional practices into their training and programming.

Parents and children interact with one another more without an educator present at an exhibit than when they engage with an educator at an exhibit.

Adult visitors do not always provide accurate science information to child visitors. Adults are more likely to request accurate science information from youth educators than from adult educators or when engaging at an exhibit without an educator.

Socially constructed learning may be most effective when youth educators and child visitors are close in age.

By targeting early childhood programs, STEM sites may be able to enhance girls’ interest and academic motivation in STEM subjects.

By training educators to engage young visitors, STEM sites can improve visitor engagement and learning. Youth educators are most effective at engaging middle childhood visitors.

In order to prepare youths from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM for future careers, science learning sites should be actively inclusive towards individual social identity groups (i.e., gender, ethnic/cultural) and help youths develop a sense of belonging within the youth program at the site.

When teens feel like they belong to a group, they report increased interest in STEM subjects, increased academic motivation in STEM subjects, and increased social skills.

Teens who feel a sense of belonging and inclusivity in their STEM site felt more prepared for STEM careers from their participation in the program.

Teen girls who feel confident in their ability to do science are more likely to want to pursue a career in science, and those who want to pursue a career in science are more likely to feel confident in their ability to do science and feel like their identities are aligned with STEM. Participation in STEM youth programs that focus on career development and building confidence in science abilities can serve as an important intervention to inhibit the decline in science career interests among girls.

Visitors perceive they learn more when they engage with an educator at an exhibit than when they engage without an educator at an exhibit.

Adult visitors may benefit from accurate science information, prompts, and questions to enhance their engagement with children and with the exhibits.

By providing fewer science explanations and asking more questions, parents may create opportunities for children to guide their own learning and engagement with exhibits.

Conversations with adult visitors and educators provide opportunities for child visitors to think deeply about the exhibits, to ask questions, to provide explanations about STEM concepts, and to create meaning from new information.

Children are more likely to engage with an interactive exhibit when no educator is present. 

Child visitors provide more science explanations to adults when engaging with non-interactive exhibits than when engaging with interactive exhibits or with educators. 

Children may learn more when interacting with an educator than when interacting with a static exhibit. 

Interactions with educators increases engagement and learning even when visitor interest in the exhibit topic is low.

The William T. Grant foundation suggests a framework for successful research-practice partnerships that includes “(1) building trust between partners, (2) ensuring that the research is rigorous, (3) supporting the practice-based organization, (4) generating knowledge that can inform practice, and (5) building capacity for the practice-based organization’s success” (p. 126).

The site can enhance their programming by applying the research findings to their programs, and researchers can enhance their research practices by cooperating with sites and facilitating application of the research findings. 

The site’s context and culture should inform research creation and be incorporated into the research process. 

Collaboration and trust are key aspects of successful research-practice partnerships.