This study examines how 6- to 8-year-old children think about biology (e.g., what makes plants grow, why animals drink water). Specifically, this study evaluates how children evaluate explanations about biology and what they remember about those explanations.

I have a child between the ages of 6- and 8-years-old

What happens in the project with children? If you agree for your child to participate, your child will work with a trained research assistant for approximately 30-45 minutes on Zoom. Children will be asked some different questions about animals over Zoom. Then, children will hear questions and explanations about biology that vary in quality and will be asked to choose if they think the explanations are helpful or not helpful answers to the questions. They will also play an electronic word-picture matching game, a listening game, and a general biological knowledge game. Your child’s session with the research assistant will be recorded.

Who gets to participate? Children ages 6 to 8.

But we don’t live in Dallas – can we still participate? Absolutely! We will be conducting interviews over online chatting software like Zoom so that we can reach families wherever they are!

What do I get for participating? Your child will receive a certificate; you will receive a $10 gift card.

How do I sign up? You can go to the following website to choose an appointment time for your time zone and provide your name, email address, and your child’s age: calendly.com/learningaboutanimalsstudy.

Within 48 hours after you choose an appointment time, we will send you an email to confirm your appointment and to share with you the next steps! Please be on the lookout for emails from thinklab@utdallas.edu.

If there are no spots available, please check back in a few days! And if you have any questions, please email us at thinklab@utdallas.edu!

We look forward to hearing from you!