Oficina Desafio, Challenge Workshop, is a project of UNICAMP Exploratory Science Museum – the Science Center of the State University of Campinas (Brazil). It is an outreach project, consisting of a fully - equipped mobile workshop constructed on a truck, which visits schools and gives the students open solution real problems challenging them to “design, construct and operate a device” capable of solving the challenge. Analysis of the evaluation forms answered by school students reveals that participants of the challenges perceive it as a “learning opportunity”, in the sense they identify
This article offers findings from a learning sciences-informed evaluation of a nanoscience and nanotechnology exhibition called Nano-Aventura (NanoAdventure), based on four interactive-collaborative games and two narrated videos. This traveling exhibition was developed in Brazil by the Museu Exploratório de Ciências for children and teenagers (ages 9 to 14), but it was also open to the general public. We report findings from a mixed-methods study incorporating questionnaires completed by visiting school children (n=814) and the general public (n=338) and interviews with school visitors (n=23)
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Museu Exploratorio de CienciasSandra MurrielloMarcelo Knobel
There is limited literature describing the ethical dilemmas that arise when conducting community-based participatory research. The following provides a case example of ethical dilemmas that developed during a multi-method community-based participatory action research project with youth in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Several ethical dilemmas emerged during the course of the study related to the community in which the research was being undertaken, the recruitment of participants, and the overall research process. As important are possible harms that may arise when the researcher is no longer
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Christine WalshJennifer HewsonMichael ShierEdwin Morales
The article discusses the significance of student's participation in a wireless, handheld field trip in the U.S. It is a program that comprises of a mix of podcasts, student multimedia creation, Web research and interviewing, designed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The innovation is vital to students' learning because it will allow them to interact with museum exhibits in a guided yet exploratory way and to increase both the amount of time students spend at exhibits and the depth of engagement with each exhibit. It revealed that in a museum setting, the technology can be used to
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Aliece WellerJohn BickarPaul McGuiness
This thesis adds to the empirical research foundation of informal science education through an investigation of a museum-based astronomy internship for high school students, in the domains of attitudes toward science, knowledge of science, and participatory science learning. Results are presented as three studies, all using a qualitative methodology and including the methods of semi-structured interview, reflective journal, direct observation, audio recording, and artifact collection.
As a matter of policy, 21st Century Community Learning Centers rely heavily on community organizations to provide a variety of instructional programs. In this way, 21st Century sites tap the depth and breadth of knowledge available in their communities to provide non-traditional learning experiences that can better meet young participants’ need for engagement and relevance than can a simple extension of school-day routine. However, the inclusion of multiple partners along with school-based site staff at any given 21st Century site means that the quality of instruction can be extremely uneven
A youth media program called Youthscapes not only helps participants combat negative stereotypes of urban teens, but also gives them a sense of group solidarity that enables them to function as responsible media producers when they venture out into the community.
Community technology centers (CTCs) help bridge the digital divide for immigrant youth in disadvantaged neighborhoods. A study of six CTCs in California shows that these centers also promote positive youth development for young people who are challenged to straddle two cultures.
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Rebecca LondonManuel PastorRachel Rosner
Community-based arts education serves the best of youth development practices and principles. In an era when school-based outcomes drive much afterschool programming, the value of the arts in building young people’s skills and abilities deserves wide support.
Dance classes provide a model for afterschool and in-school education where multiple, “embodied” modes of teaching and learning enhance development and where risk-taking is rewarded rather than punished.
Research on middle school participants’ engagement in afterschool programs shows that such programs often serve as developmental contexts for promoting “flow” experiences. Compared to when they are in other settings after school, participants in afterschool programs are more likely to experience high concentrated effort and intrinsic motivation, experiences consistent with Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow. Organized sports, arts enrichment, and academic enrichment activities were found to be particularly engaging program activities, in contrast to homework completion. The importance of high
Conceptual change views of teaching and learning processes in science, and also in various other content domains, have played a significant role in research on teaching and learning as well as in instructional design since the late 1970s. An important issue is whether conceptual change can provide a powerful framework for improving instructional practice in such a way that students’ levels of scientific literacy are significantly increased. In this article, the first section provides an overview on the development of conceptual change perspectives. In sections two to six, we examine the