Early Childhood Research Quarterly 19 (2004) 40–58 Children’s learning about water in a museum and in the classroom Harriet R. Tenenbaum a,* , Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann b , Virginia Vogel Zanger c a Psychology Department, Brooklyn College, CUNY, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA b Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA c The Children’s Museum, 300 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA Abstract This study investigated the effectiveness of a combined museum and classroom intervention project on science learning in low-income children. The focus of the program was on children’s content knowledge and concept complexity. Thirty children were in the experimental group. A control group of 18 children visited literacy and social studies exhibits at the museum. Results indicate that children in the experimental group learned content knowledge about the components of bubbles and the definition of a current. Although children in the experimental group exhibited more complex concepts about buoyancy, they did not become more correct in their judgments. In general, the program supported children’s science literacy development with regard to both concept complexity and content knowledge. Results are interpreted in relation to socio-cultural and constructivist frameworks from developmental psychology. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Children; Museum; Classroom 1. Introduction The National Science Foundation suggests that adults must be familiar with basic science concepts for employment today. Unfortunately, African-American, Latino/a, and low-income European-American students lag behind other students in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science as- sessment tests in the fourth, eighth, and twelfth grades (NSF, 2000). Additionally, African-American and * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-718-951-5872. E-mail address: HarrietT@brooklyn.cuny.edu (H.R. Tenenbaum). 0885-2006/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2004.01.008