Family Visits to a Dinosaur Exhibit: Associations Between Group Composition, Parent Talk, and Children's Science...

Family visits to museums provide opportunities for children to engage with science topics through shared exploration and conversation. These discussions can be shaped by proximal social factors such as how many people are in the child's group during the visit and how much parents extend conversations after the visit. We surveyed children between the ages of 4 and 9 immediately after visiting a dinosaur exhibit at a children's museum. One week later, parents completed an online survey reporting post-visit conversations, children's dinosaur-related activities, and parents' support for science. Children's reported interest in dinosaurs was related to the composition of the visiting group, with lower interest among children who visited in adult-dominant groups compared with balanced or child-dominant groups. Additionally, children whose parents reported higher amounts of post-visit talk also reported greater interest and engagement with dinosaur-related activities. No age differences were observed across measures of interest or engagement. These findings suggest that proximal social contexts during and after museum visits are associated with variability in children's science interest and curiosity. Implications for informal learning environments and family engagement in science are discussed.