Children's Interest, Search, and Knowledge: A Pilot Analysis of a STEM Maker Workshop

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhen understanding information seeking, individuals' knowledge construction and interest development are critical to be considered because of their active interactions with each other. Especially for children, these three dimensions—interest, search, and knowledge—can constantly influence each other and support meaningful learning experiences. However, there is a lack of empirical investigation to understand this interplay between the dimensions, particularly in children's real‐life environments. Building upon the previous literature on the conceptual demonstration of interest, search, and knowledge construction, we used a qualitative, video‐based research approach to conduct a pilot analysis of a child's experiences from a maker workshop at a science museum. Our pilot analysis provides a basis for empirical investigation of children's authentic information seeking and learning.