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The Contribution of Natural History Museums to Science Education

March 17, 2016 | Public Programs, Exhibitions, Informal/Formal Connections
This is a report of a project titled ‘The Contribution of Natural History Museums to Science Education’, funded by the Wellcome Trust and ESRC with a Phase 1 grant from the Science Learning+ initiative. The project explored how Natural History Museums (NHMs) and schools can complement one another to maximise learning among school-age learners, and researched the long-term benefits to learning and engagement with science that NHMs can provide. During the course of our work, our team, which consisted of museum professionals and academics in the UK and the US, worked in the UK and the US with practitioners in NHMs and with school teachers and students. Our conclusions, as summarised in this Executive Summary, fall into two areas, one to do with the provision by museums of learning experiences for students, the other to do with how NHMs assess the effects of their provision. While our focus is on NHMs, a number of our conclusions apply more generally.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • DSC 6850smaller portrait
    Author
    UCL Institute of Education
  • Berry Billingsley
    Author
    University of Reading
  • REVISE logo
    Author
    University of Michigan
  • Richard Kissel
    Author
    Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
  • REVISE logo
    Author
    Natural History Museum, London
  • Menaka Munro
    Author
    Manchester Museum
  • Tamjid Mujtaba
    Author
    UCL Institute of Education
  • Mary Oliver
    Author
    University of Nottingham
  • JP Head shot
    Author
    Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
  • Richard Sheldrake
    Author
    UCL Institute of Education
  • 2013 08 19 chia
    Author
    Harvard University
  • REVISE logo
    Author
    Oxford University Museum of Natural History
  • Dean Veall
    Author
    UCL Grant Museum of Zoology
  • Citation

    Funders

    Wellcome Trust
    Funding Program: Science Learning +
    Resource Type: Reference Materials
    Discipline: General STEM | History/policy/law | Life science
    Audience: Elementary School Children (6-10) | Middle School Children (11-13) | Youth/Teen (up to 17) | Educators/Teachers | Museum/ISE Professionals | Scientists
    Environment Type: Public Programs | Museum and Science Center Programs | Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits | Informal/Formal Connections | K-12 Programs

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