The National Refrigerator Door Project
How Kids Imagine Science
A Joint Project of
Year of Science/Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, and the Elementary Science Coalition.
What do kids think about science?
Increasingly, research is showing that if children are not engaged by science while in elementary school, they are not likely to pursue science at an older age. As policy makers, educators, and science and technology professionals attempt to improve the quality of science education, build science literacy and awareness, and seek to increase the US’s competitiveness in international science and technology fields, the one group that is generally left out of the conversation is the children themselves.
The National Refrigerator Door Project is an effort to broaden the conversation about science and science education to include children and families, to begin to build a national platform for their engagement in this conversation, and to collect data and materials to share with elected officials and education industry members about children’s perceptions of their experiences with science.
We will invite children across the country to draw pictures of what they think of when they think about science, and engage with them to talk about what they’ve drawn and why it’s important to them. We will also invite their parents to share their perceptions about their children’s science education.
In the spirit of proud family and friends that hang children’s drawings on their refrigerator doors, this artwork and discussion will be collected and posted on a Flickr based website, creating a virtual “refrigerator door” to share children’s images with policy makers, families, and educators.
Through the collection of these pictures from elementary aged children about what their perceptions of science are, their passions and/or their disconnects, project partners hope to achieve the following:
• Develop baseline data on how children perceive science
• Develop materials to share with elected representation
• Begin a national outreach campaign for children, parents, and teachers through the posting of artwork on website, collecting email addresses of parents and other interested parties to build an email list
• Begin to build a community of science supporters outside the traditional professional science, technology, and educational fields
• Develop “tag words” by asking children as they’re drawing for the five words that occur to them when they think about science and using these to structure searches on the website as well as engender conversation
Build a sense of ownership into the process of science education for children by inviting them to articulate their questions, opinions, likes and dislikes to decision-makers.
Process
At public events, in classrooms, etc., elementary aged children will be provided with paper and crayons and asked the questions below. Simultaneously, if parents are present, they will be asked to fill out a short survey on their impressions about their children’s science education.
Join Us!
Would you be interested in hosting a National Refigerator Door Project event? Please contact Rita Ferrandino at rita@arccd.com or (941) 921-1663.
The Elementary Science Coalition is a select group of educators, educational publishing companies, and corporations with a vested interest in a strong scientific workforce, 
