This article examines the literature on Native science in order to address the presumed binaries between formal and informal science learning and between Western and Native science. We situate this discussion within a larger discussion of culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous youth and the importance of Indigenous epistemologies and contextualized knowledges within Indigenous communities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bryan Mckinely Jones BrayboyAngelina Castagno
Zoos and aquariums have shifted their focus over recent years, taking a much more active role in wildlife conservation and in promoting conservation learning among their visitors. Research in these settings provides a valuable foundation for the emerging field of non-captive wildlife tourism. In particular, valuable lessons regarding the potential impact of wildlife encounters on visitors' conservation attitudes and behaviour can be drawn from research in zoos and aquariums. This paper explores those aspects of wildlife encounters that appear to contribute most to conservation learning. These
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R. BallantyneJ. PackerK. HughesLynn Dierking
Over many decades, science education researchers have developed, validated, and used a wide range of attitudinal instruments. Data from such instruments have been analyzed, results have been published, and public policies have been influenced. Unfortunately, most science education instruments are not developed using a guiding theoretical measurement framework. Moreover, ordinal-level attitudinal data are routinely analyzed as if these data are equal interval, thereby violating requirements of parametric tests. This paper outlines how researchers can use Rasch analysis to develop higher quality
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William BooneJ. Scott TownsendJohn Staver
The purpose of this study was to investigate how situational interest of high school students was triggered during a field trip to an aquarium. Although the role of museums in stimulating interest among students has been acknowledged for some time, empirical evidence about how the specific variable of a museum setting might trigger situational interest is almost nonexistent. The present study was conducted as a case study to provide an inductive, explorative investigation of how situational interest emerged during the field trip. A situative approach to the study of interest was applied in the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach (PGR) is a children's program that has offered garden-based youth education since 1990. PGR focuses on Grade K-8 students and teachers from local Title I schools who work in teams on garden and science projects. In this exploratory study, the authors used field observations, document analysis, and past participant interviews to investigate PGR's program, model informal science education, and document the influence of the program on urban youth. In all, 7 themes emerged: (a) participants' challenging home and school environments, (b) changes in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan MorganSusan HamiltonMichael BentleySharon Myrie
In both formal and informal settings, not only science but also views on the nature of science are communicated. Although there probably is no singular nature shared by all fields of science, in the field of science education it is commonly assumed that on a certain level of generality there is a consensus on many features of science. In this paper, it will be argued that because of their focus on unifying items and their ignoring of the actual heterogeneity of science, it is questionable whether such consensus views can fruitfully contribute to the aim of science communication, i.e., to
This researcher analyzed parent-child attention-directing interactions observed in a museum. The questions addressed were as follows: Do certain exhibit types elicit more attentional behaviors than others? Do frequencies of attentional behaviors vary as a function of age of children (family type)? Do frequencies attentional behaviors vary as a function of sex of parent-child dyads (dyad type)? Data for 56 families on 13 types of attentional behaviors were collected and analyzed, utilizing a 4 (exhibit type) x 3 (family type) x 4 (dyad type) analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to study visitors’ experiences in the current West Gallery exhibition. However, after an initial meeting, USBG recognized that any changes to the West Gallery should be intentional and done in the context of staff’s aspirations for the whole Garden experience; thus, the study evolved into a more holistic endeavor with two main goals: (1) collect data about visitors’ experiences in the West Gallery exhibition to inform redesign of the Gallery; and (2) study visitors’ experiences in the whole Garden in the
It is common knowledge that U.S. students have fallen behind in the acquisition of science knowledge and that the necessary solution is greater investment and better practices in our schools. But is better schooling really the solution? Drawing on a large base of research, the authors demonstrate that by the time U.S. citizens are young adults, they are better informed about science than their international peers; that the most important sources of scientific knowledge are not schools; and that the informal infrastructure of museums, aquariums, broadcast programming and other sources of
Describes an outdoor educational program at the University of California Botanical Garden in which children are encouraged to handle the plants and are provided with a taped commentary. By the use of an inquiry method, children learn how the Californian Indians used many of the native plants.
This report, commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, provides a review of the value of informal science learning to science education in the UK. The study seeks to provide: a better understanding of the scope of informal science learning, its theoretical base and the types of change it can bring about in the understanding of and attitudes towards science; recommendations for robust methods for evaluating the impact of informal science learning, based on an analysis of practice in the field; recommendations on reaching deprived learners, schools and families; and recommendations based on best
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TEAM MEMBERS:
GHK ConsultingRichard LloydRoss NeilsonSuzanne KingMark DyballWellcome Trust
Social science research into public understanding of animal cognition has tended toward a disciplinary focus with conceptual frameworks, questionnaires, concepts and categories that do not appear to align with the findings emerging from the scientific study of animal cognition. The goal of this paper is to present a framework that aligns the dimensions of these two disparate research fields to allow for better assessment of public perceptions of animal minds. The paper identifies different dimensions that have been categorized through the empirical study of animal cognition, as well as the