Scope - Science Capital among children and young people in Denmark - a longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study

SCOPE is a national research project that investigates Danish children’s and young people’s science capital – understood as the “science backpack” of experiences, knowledge, interests, and networks that children carry with them throughout their upbringing and draw on when they encounter science in school and later in their educational choices. A special focus in this context is on understanding how children’s and young people’s experiences and backgrounds interact with their opportunity to see themselves in science. This can help us understand why some children and young people develop and maintain an interest in science while others do not. Such interest is important for children’s education as citizens and, for some, also for their choice of further education.

The SCOPE project is funded by the Villum Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Project management is carried out by VIVE and the Department of Science Education (DSE) at the University of Copenhagen. VIA University College and Københavns Professionshøjskole (KP) is responsible for the family component of the qualitative part of the project. Other partners include Astra. The project will continue until 2030.

Early Findings from the family component of SCOPE (SCOPE 1):
SCOPE is based on a combination of questionnaires and extensive qualitative data, including student and family interviews, to uncover how science capital is formed and which conditions at home, at school, and during leisure time influence its development. VIA University College has collected quantitative data in the form of family interviews since the project began. The interviews have been conducted with families of children from grade 1 to grade 8, and we will follow the families over a ten-year period.

Some of the initial findings indicate that Danish families consider bildung to be a very important part of their children’s upbringing. The families engage in activities both in formal museum settings and, perhaps to an even greater extent, in nature-based experiences. These include going into the forest to look for edible plants, collecting stones to paint, and making bonfires. The families emphasize that spending time together is important to them, as well as ensuring that their children develop an understanding of the natural world, they are part of.