What do families have to say about it?: Family supports for children’s interest, engagement, and aspirations in science

ABSTRACT

Families are significant influences on children’s interest, engagement, and aspirations (IEA) in science. However, research exploring family impact on children’s IEA in science rarely seeks families’ voices. Using the constructs of family science capital and family science habitus as well as the Community Culture Wealth Framework to frame the research, focus groups were conducted with forty parents in the southeastern U.S. to uncover how families support IEA in science. There were four findings regarding how families support children’s IEA in science: (1) families acknowledge and encourage scientific wonderings and learning; (2) families engage in informal family science experiences; (3) families strive to provide science resources; and (4) there was a preponderance of family science habitus as well as familial and linguistic capital in their supports of IEA in science. Given the significant influence families can have, it is imperative for educators to better understand these supports and how they might be leveraged for meaningful science education both in and outside of school. This study may serve as a launchpoint for family partnerships with schools and other stakeholders who want to build on or leverage the assets families have, as these stakeholders (re)consider what they believe about families and science.

KEYWORDS:

• Community cultural wealth
• science capital
• family science habitus

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Malcolm Butler, Jennifer DeWitt, Soñia Galaviz, Andrew Gilbert, and Brooke Whitworth for their thoughtful encouragement and feedback in this research endeavour.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Clemson University.

Notes

1 Interest, engagement, and aspiration are distinct constructs that were all included in this study to indicate that children may be interested in science (‘I like this and want to do this again!’); they may engage with science (‘I am interested in and excited to participate in science and science activities!’); and/or they may aspire to continue schooling, have a hobby, or pursue a career in science. IEA, therefore, is an abbreviation for ease of discussion of these three ways in which children might demonstrate an affiliation for science.

2 The use of ‘parent’ in this study is inclusive of non-biological parents, such as stepparents and other legal guardians who are primary adult caregivers of children.

3 Title I is a federal education program in the U.S. that supports high-poverty schools; these schools typically have a large population of students who qualify for free- and reduced-price lunch.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation [grant number 2225149].