Abstract:

Recent years, increased attention about parents involvement in their children’s education has been seen. Besides from the campus lives, family also plays an important role in the students’ lives, whether mentally or physically. The purpose of this project was to enhance the scientific competency of the parents and their children through interactive science homework and also to explore the ways of parental involvement about science learning in multicultural families. This is a three-year study. The blend of both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. In the first year, science educators, elementary teachers, and parents were invited to develop interactive science homework. The patterns and ways of parents-children interaction about science activities were also discussed and developed. In the second year, the multicultural families were the main participants and took part in the interactive science homework learning. Their views and the impacts gained from the process were gathered and assessed. In the third year, the modification of interactive science learning activities was conducted and popularized to other families. The results revealed interactive science homework could improve parents’ attitudes toward science activities and increase the interaction frequency with their children. It was found that interactive science homework were practical and effective to enhance parents involvement in children’s science learning. Furthermore, the interactive science homework in this study was valified by having multicultural families work together with hands-on activities using inexpensive household materials. It is worth promoting to more students and their families. The ways and activities about family participation in the science learning at home were expected to be the powerful family education resources in the future.

Keywords:

Children’s science learning, family involvement