ABSTRACT
Videotaping family interactions provides researchers with unique access to the kinds of experiences that collectively shape the everyday cognitive ecology of childhood. In this chapter, we will discuss some selected findings about the ways that islands of expertise change how families talk in museums. We will briefly outline some of the key theoretical motivations for this work as well as some of the specific challenges associated with conducting research in museum settings. Through a discussion of our methods and a pair of example transcripts, we will illustrate how video can reveal the rich character and texture of parent–child communication and provide essential data that helps us understand how families learn about science in informal settings.
