This report details the findings from an exploratory research study conducted by the Research and Evaluation Department at the Museum of Science, Boston about this exhibition, which came to be known as Provocative Questions (PQ). This investigation was guided by the following questions: 1. Will visitors engage in socio-scientific argumentation in an un-facilitated exhibit space, and are they aware that they are doing so? 2. How do the un-facilitated exhibits impact visitors’ socio-scientific argumentation skills? For the exploratory research study, visitors were cued to use the exhibits and
Researching Visual Arts Education in Museums and Galleries brings together case studies from Europe, Asia and North America, in a way that will lay a foundation for international co-operation in the future development and communication of practice-based research. The research in each of the cases directly stems from educational practice in very particular contexts, indicating at once the variety and detail of practitioners' concerns and their common interests.
On July 12, 1974, the National Research Act (Pub. L. 93-348) was signed into law, there-by creating the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. One of the charges to the Commission was to identify the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects and to develop guidelines which should be followed to assure that such research is conducted in accordance with those principles. In carrying out the above, the Commission was directed to consider: (i) the boundaries
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U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance. Soon to be made into an HBO movie by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball, this New York Times bestseller takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored”
This volume explores the integration of recent research on everyday, classroom, and professional scientific thinking. It brings together an international group of researchers to present core findings from each context; discuss connections between contexts, and explore structures; technologies, and environments to facilitate the development and practice of scientific thinking. The chapters focus on: * situations from young children visiting museums, * middle-school students collaborating in classrooms, * undergraduates learning about research methods, and * professional scientists engaged in
In the spring of 1999, the Board of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) established an Informal Science Education Ad Hoc committee, co-chaired by Lynn Dierking and John Falk. The Committee's task was to focus on the organization's positioning in regard to out-of-school science education. After 2 years of work, the committee composed a policy statement, included below, that was presented to, and accepted by, the NARST board. The policy statement defines this arena of research, describes a variety of out-of-school environments in which science learning occurs
What do people learn from visiting museums and how do they learn it? The editors approach this question by focusing on conversations as both the process and the outcome of museum learning. People do not come to museums to talk, but they often do talk. This talk can drift from discussions of managing the visit, to remembrances of family members and friends not present, to close analyses of particular objects or displays. This volume explores how these conversations reflect and change a visitor's identity, discipline-specific knowledge, and engagement with an informal learning environment that
For forty years between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) conducted an experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. These men, for the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its seriousness. Informed that they were being treated for “bad blood,”1 their doctors had no intention of curing them of syphilis at all. The data for the experiment was to be collected from autopsies of the men, and they were thus deliberately left to degenerate under the ravages of
Lessons Without Limit is not just another book about school reform but a highly readable guide to transforming the entire experience of learning across a lifetime. Free-choice learning is all about what you choose to do in your learning time. We learn every day at home, at school, at work, and out in the world, from books, in museums, watching television, hearing a symphony, building a model rocket. Our motivations and expectations change over our lifetime but learning never stops. This book will give you a new understanding of the learning process and guide you in maximizing your lifelong
Despite originally being almost exclusively focused on the school context, the National Science Education Standards (NSES) emerged as an amazingly relevant document for the informal context as well. All four of the Standards—Teaching Standards, Content and Inquiry Standards, Professional Development Standards and Assessment Standards—can, should, and as the chapters in this volume clearly attest, have been adapted for use in and by informal education institutions. The importance of debate and discussion, collaborative and shared responsibility for learning and data-based inquiries, and an
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Institute for Learning InnovationJohn H Falk
This landmark publication identifies strategies for determining the extent and content of museum learning and the visitor experience. Takes into account prior knowledge and experience; subsequent, reinforcing experiences; motivation and attitudes; culture and background; social mediation; design and representation; and the physical setting. Includes possible measurement techniques for the museum context, and recommendations for future research in museum training.
This seminal book describes the nature and extent of science learning in America with particular attention to the innumerable sources of science education existing outside the formal education system.
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Institute for Learning InnovationJohn H Falk