Presenting wicked problems in a science museum: A methodology to study interest from a dynamic perspective.

Science centers and science museums have an important social role in engaging people with science and technology relevant for complex societal problems-so called wicked problems. We used the case of personalized medicine to illustrate a methodology that can be used to inform the development of exhibitions on such wicked problems. The methodology that is presented is grounded in dynamic theories of interest development that define interest as a multidimensional construct involving knowledge, behavior (personal and general) value, self-efficacy, and emotion.

Hands-On Exploration of Cubes' Floating and Sinking Benefits Children's Subsequent Buoyancy Predictions.

Children accrue experiences with buoyancy on a daily basis, yet research paints a mixed picture of children's buoyancy knowledge. Whereas children's predictions and explanations of the floating and the sinking of common objects are often based on a single feature (e.g.

Parental Pre-knowledge Enhances Guidance During Inquiry-Based Family Learning in a Museum Context: An Individual Differences Perspective.

Effective interaction and inquiry are an essential source for children's learning about science in an informal context. This study investigated the effect of parental pre-knowledge on parent-child interactions (manipulations, parent talk, and child talk) during an inquiry activity in NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam. The sample included 105 parent-child dyads (mean children's age = 10.

Children's Mental Models of Prenatal Development.

Children's thinking about prenatal development requires reasoning about change that cannot be observed directly. How do children gain knowledge about this topic? Do children have mental models or is their knowledge fragmented? In Experiment 1, results of a forced-choice questionnaire about prenatal development (6- to 13-year-olds; = 317) indicated that children do have a variety of coherent, grade-related, theories about early shape of the fetus, but not about bodily functions. Coherence of the mental models was enhanced by a preceding generative task.