Name: Asking young children to “do science” instead of “be scientists” increases science engagement in a randomized field experiment
Brand: pnas.org
SKU: pnas-org-37
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Asking young children to “do science” instead of “be scientists” increases science engagement in a randomized field experiment

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Edited by Eva Pomerantz, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, IL, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Renée Baillargeon March 10, 2020 (received for review November 8, 2019)This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.Language implying that scientists have a special kind of identity (e.g., “Let’s turn on our special scientist brains!”) is prevalent in input to young children and has immediate negative consequences for children’s science behavior in laboratory studies. To test if these effects of language are powerful enough to shape child behavior as it unfolds in the natural course of development, we conducted a large field experiment with prekindergarten teachers and their students. Brief video-based training led teachers to change their language and increased children’s science persistence several days later but did not affect children’s feelings of science self-efficacy. These data reveal tools that could be used to increase science engagement in daily life.Subtle features of common language can imply to young children that scientists are a special and distinct kind of person—a way of thinking that can interfere with the development of children’s own engagement with science. We conducted a large field experiment (involving 45 prekindergarten schools, 130 teachers, and over 1,100 children) to test if targeting subtle properties of language can increase science engagement in children’s daily lives. Despite strong tendencies to describe scientists as a special kind of person (in a baseline control condition), brief video-based training changed the language that teachers used to introduce science to their students. These changes in language were powerful enough to predict children’s science interest and behavior days later. Thus, subtle features of language shape children’s beliefs and behaviors as they unfold in real world environments. Harnessing these mechanisms could promote science engagement in early childhood.Published under the .You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to if you don't already have one.Subscribers, for more details, please visit our .Please click to log into the PNAS submission website.Asking young children to “do science” instead of “be scientists” increases science engagement in a randomized field experimentAsking young children to “do science” instead of “be scientists” increases science engagement in a randomized field experimentResearchers and decision makers need to address development problems, share data more freely, and expand the breadth of disciplines involved in new ocean research.Image credit: © World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US)/James Morgan.Recent research raises the prospect that such activity should be taken into account in order to better tailor therapies.Image credit: ScienceSource/Dennis Kunkel Microscopy.Researchers report methane emissions from a natural gas well blowout in Ohio using measurements from a satellite-based instrument.Image credit: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.Field trials of engineered poplars suggest that suppression of isoprene, required for protection from climate stress but deleterious to air quality, does not significantly affect photosynthesis.Image credit: Wikimedia/Iftikhor.A study reports recent declines in mayfly emergence over major North American waterways.Image credit: Phillip M. Stepanian.

Edited by Eva Pomerantz, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, IL, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Renée Baillargeon March 10, 2020 (received for review November 8, 2019)This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.Language implying that scientists have a special kind of identity (e.g., “Let’s turn on our special scientist brains!”) is prevalent in input to young children and has immediate negative consequences for children’s...

Asking young children to “do science” instead of “be scientists” increases science engagement in a randomized field experiment

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