Children’s podcasts as facilitators of vehicle-based family joint media engagement

Introduction Children’s podcasts are a growing medium for joint family engagement, but little is known about the beneficial impacts of listening together. This article describes a two-phase qualitative research study conducted to understand how the children’s science podcast, Brains On!, mediated joint media engagement in a setting where families tend to listen together, in their vehicles. The research examined three factors that played a role in families’ joint media engagement with the Brains On! podcast in a vehicle setting: 1) the family members in the vehicle, 2) the “in-medium” factors of the Brains On! podcast, and 3) the “in-automobile” factors related to the vehicle environment. Methods In Phase 1, 32 families participated in a vehicle-based listener experience study, while Phase 2 consisted of four case studies to gather more naturalistic listening behaviors. Both phases included analysis of family interviews and video recordings of families’ in-vehicle behaviors. Results Brains On! effectively engaged family members of all ages, prompting both adults and children to initiate sensemaking, connecting, and noticing interactions. The podcast’s content sparked conversation in all 32 families, transforming the vehicle into a productive learning space where families used travel time to engage with each other and learn new things together. The vehicle’s enclosed physical environment supported focused joint attention for listening, while features of the vehicle, such as the rearview mirror, supported family interactions with podcast content. Discussion This research fills essential gaps in knowledge about the value of children’s podcast media for family engagement and the important role that vehicles can play as family learning spaces.