成人快播

Fostering interest in science is critical for broadening engagement with science topics, careers, and hobbies. Research suggests that these interests begin to form as early as preschool and have long鈥恡erm implications for participation and learning. However, scholars have only speculated on the processes that shape interest development at this age, when children鈥檚 exposure to science primarily occurs during family鈥恇ased learning experiences. Moving beyond speculation, we conducted a qualitative study with seven low鈥恑ncome mothers and their four-year-old daughters from Head Start to (a) develop a descriptive understanding of science-related interest development for preschool children from traditionally underserved communities and (b) identify differences across families that might explain the variation in children鈥檚 interests.

The study was conducted over 5 months and included two in-depth interviews and four videotaped sessions in which families engaged in science-related activities. Interviews suggested that children鈥檚 science-related interests sparked by the sessions fell along a continuum, from focused interests specific to the materials provided during the sessions to broad interests extending to more general topics and activity types. We also found important variation across families related to mothers鈥� expression of affect, their involvement and leadership styles, and their approach to re鈥恊ngaging children when they lost interest or changed focus.