The article presents advice by the authors for helping middle school science teachers in the U.S. to plan field trips related to science education. The authors say that the teachers should try to make the field trips a significant learning experience. They should communicate the goals of the trips to the students. According to them, many science museums offer pretrip planning meetings to allow teachers to know the resources available for students. They also offer excellent web sites for planning the trips.
Bang, Warren, Rosebery, and Medin explore empirical work with students from non-dominant communities to support teaching science as a practice of inquiry and understanding, not as a “settled” set of ideas and skills to learn.
This report includes six separate formative evaluations conducted to inform the design and development of the deliverables for the 3D Visualization Tools for Enhancing Awareness, Understanding and Stewardship of Freshwater Ecosystems project. Deliverables were tested with both students and general visitor groups, with a focus on groups including late elementary and middle school children. Many different components were tested, including prototype versions of 3D visualizations, high-tech interactive experiences, apps on tablets and phones, and table top exhibits. Results are reported in each of
In 2008, COSI received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to develop the exhibit Labs in Life (LG-26-08-0146). The development of the Labs in Life embodies a unique model for collaboration, with active researchers interested in research outcomes while simultaneously serving as models for the public, and science center staff concurrently gleaning new and changing content for exhibits and programs. While each partner is motivated by many different goals, all agree that they are interested in stimulating public interest in and understanding of science and technology
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Institute for Learning InnovationJoe E Heimlich
Magnolia Consulting, LLC conducted a formative and summative evaluation to examine public perceptions of the utility and quality of two labs/exhibits within the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Natural World Investigate Lab, Biofuels and Science of Scent. Appendix includes survey.
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North Carolina State Museum of Natural ScienceMary Styers
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded an Informal Science Education (ISE) grant, since renamed Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) to a group of institutions led by two of the University of California, Davis’s centers: the Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) and the W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES). The purpose of the evaluation was to gather feedback from museum professionals and the general public about the proposed 3D visualization project and its related components. Additionally, the study aimed to assess the current understanding
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University of California, DavisSteven Yalowitz
This report summarizes the processes and findings of a two-year, multimethod evaluation of the Museum of Science & Industry's Mystery at the Museum program. The evaluation's purpose was to assess the program's impact on teachers and students and to guide program improvements.
Young people's participation in informal STEM learning activities can contribute to their academic and career achievements, but these connections are infrequently explicitly recognized or cultivated. More systemic approaches to STEM education could allow for students' experiences of formal and informal STEM learning to be aligned, coordinated, and supported across learning contexts. This Science Learning+ planning project brings together stakeholders in two digital badge systems--one in the US and one in the UK--to plan for a study to identify the specific structural features of the systems that may allow for the alignment of learning objectives across institutions. Digital badge systems may offer an inventive solution to the challenge of connecting and building on youth's STEM-related experiences in multiple learning contexts. When part of a defined system, badges could be used to represent and communicate evidence of individual learning, as well as provide youth and educators with evidence-supported indicators for other activities in the system that might be interesting or valuable. Properly designed and supported badge systems could transmit critical information within a network of informal STEM programs and schools that (1) recognize context-dependent, interest-driven learning and (2) provide opportunities to explore those interests across multiple settings. This project advances the field of informal STEM learning in two ways. First, the project documents and analyzes the processes by which two small groups of informal science education organizations and schools negotiate the meaning and value of badges, as proxies for learning objectives, and how they decide to recognize badges awarded by other institutions. This process builds capacity within the target systems while also beginning to identify the institutional, cultural, and material capacity issues that facilitate or constrain the alignment process. Second, the project conducts a pilot study with a small number of youth in the US and UK to investigate factors associated with an individual youth's likelihood of: a) identifying badges of interest; b) connecting the activities of various badge systems to each other and to non-badging institutions, such as school or industry; c) determining which badges to pursue; and d) persisting in a particular badge pathway. Findings from this pilot study will help identify institution- and individual-level factors that might be associated with advancing student interest and progression in STEM fields. Deepening and validating the understanding of those factors and their relative impact on student experiences and outcomes will be the focus of investigations in future studies.
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James DiamondNew York City Hive Learning NetworkMOUSEDigitalMeKatherine McMillan
Research in experimental and developmental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, suggests that tool fluency depends on the merging of perceptual and motor aspects of its use, an achievement we call perceptuomotor integration. We investigate the development of perceptuomotor integration and its role in mathematical thinking and learning. Just as expertise in playing a piano relies on the interanimation of finger movements and perceived sounds, we argue that mathematical expertise involves the systematic interpenetration of perceptual and motor aspects of playing mathematical
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Ricardo NemirovskyMolly KeltonBohdan Rhodehamel
This research follows on a previous study that investigated how digitally augmented devices and knowledge building could enhance learning in a science museum. In this study, we were interested in understanding which combination of scaffolds could be used in conjunction with the unique characteristics of informal participation to increase conceptual and cognitive outcomes. Three hundred seven students from nine middle schools participated in the study. Six scaffolds were used in various combinations. The first was the digital augmentation. The next five were adaptations of knowledge-building
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Susan YoonKaren ElinichJoyce WangJaqueline SchooneveldEmma Anderson
Twenty-four Learning Labs in libraries and museums across the country are engaging America’s youth in learning settings where they gain skills and following their passions. A new publication, Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums: Transformative Spaces for Teens, describes these innovative teen spaces. The report details the research behind the labs, the practices that support meaningful learning, and the impacts of a movement that grew with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and its private partner, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The Exploratorium, in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club Columbia Park (BGC) in the Mission District of San Francisco, is implementing a two-year exploratory project designed to support informal education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) within underserved Latino communities. Building off of and expanding on non-STEM-related efforts in a few major U.S. cities and Europe, the Exploratorium, BGC, and residents of the District will engage in a STEM exhibit and program co-development process that will physically convert metered parking spaces in front of the Club into transformative public places called "parklets." The BGC parklet will feature interactive, bilingual science and technology exhibits, programs and events targeting audiences including youth ages 8 - 17 and intergenerational families and groups primarily in the Mission District and users of the BGC. Parklet exhibits and programs will focus on STEM content related to "Observing the Urban Environment," with a focus on community sustainability. The project explores one approach to working with and engaging the public in their everyday environment with relevant STEM learning experiences. The development and evaluation processes are being positioned as a model for possible expansion throughout the city and to other cities.