Gruenewald blends critical pedagogy and place-based education into a critical pedagogy of place. Critical pedagogies challenge the assumptions implicit in the dominant culture. Place-based education aims to educate citizens so they can influence their social and ecological spaces. Together, these perspectives provide a framework that enables citizens to act both locally and globally to protect their cultures and environments.
Mobile technology can be used to scaffold inquiry-based learning, enabling learners to work across settings and times, singly or in collaborative groups. It can expand learners’ opportunities to understand the nature of inquiry whilst they engage with the scientific content of a specific inquiry. This Sharples et al. paper reports on the use of the mobile computer-based inquiry toolkit nQuire. Teachers found the tool useful in helping students to make sense of data from varied settings.
The World Biotech Tour (WBT) is a multi-year initiative that will bring biotechnology to life at select science centers and museums worldwide. The program, supported by the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) and Biogen Foundation, is scheduled to run from 2015-2017, with the 2015 cohort in Belgium, Japan, and Portugal. The WBT will increase the impact and visibility of biotechnology among youth and the general public through hands-on and discussion-led learning opportunities. Applications are now open for the 2016 cohort! Learn more and submit an application at http://www.worldbiotechtour.org/become-a-stop
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Association of Science-Technology CentersCarlin Hsueh
Dinosaur Island is a 3D computer simulation with herds of sauropods and ceratopsians, flocks of pteranodons, hunting packs of carnivores and authentic plants and trees from over 65 million years ago all controlled by the user. You can think of Dinosaur Island as a digital terrarium in which a balance between the species and their diets must be maintained or the ecosystem will collapse. It is up to the user to determine how many and what kinds of dinosaurs and plants populate the island. Start off simple with just a few sauropods and some plants; but you better make sure that those big plant-eaters have the right food to eat. Did you know that many of the plants from the Jurassic were poisonous? You also need to make sure that there are some carnivores around to keep those sauropod herds in check; otherwise they will quickly outstrip their food supplies. Dinosaur Island is an Adventure: Yes, it is a bit like those famous movies because you can take 'photographs' of your dinosaurs, save them, post them and share them with your friends (you can even 'name' your dinosaurs, 'tag' them and track them throughout their lives). You will be able to walk' with the dinosaurs without being trampled under their giant feet. You will be able to follow along when a female T-Rex goes out to hunt without fear of becoming dinner for her family. You will be able to 'garden' by 'planting' vegetation where you like and watch the plants grow over time. Dinosaur Island is Educational: Our reputation – both in our 'serious games' and our contracted simulations – is for historical accuracy. All of our computer games, serious games and simulations are meticulously researched. Dinosaur Island will also include an extensive hyperlinked interactive 'booklet' about the dinosaurs that live on Dinosaur Island, their habitat and the plants and vegetation that grow there. Designasaurus, the game that we created in 1987, was named Educational Game of the Year. We will exploit the computer environment that is now available (more memory and faster machines allow for 3D rendering) to make Dinosaur Island even more of an immersive educational experience. Dinosaur Island is Fun: Playing with herds of dinosaurs is just good fun. You can 'pick them up' and move them around, plant crops for them to eat or you can even 'get inside' a dinosaur and control its actions. Regardless of your age, Dinosaur Island is guaranteed to be hours of fun.
Project Exploration’s week-long summer Environmental Adventurers program immersed eleven Chicago Public School middle and high school students into the world of urban bees and biodiversity research. We employed a place-based approach to ground learning experiences and exploration within uniquely urban spaces. Students used mobile technology to explore the environment, document native bees, and engage in authentic fieldwork research and data analysis. Students maximized the potential of the technology in ways that forced program leaders to rethink the potential of mobile technology as an
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Jameela JafriGabrielle LyonStephanie MadziarRebecca ToniettoProject ExplorationChicago Botanic GardenNorthwestern University
This study, completed by Serrell and Associates in June of 2012, was the first phase in an overall visitor research program at the Natural History Museum of Utah completed. NHMU opened its new facility in November 2011, a spectacular integration of a LEED- certified building anchoring the museum’s significant collections and research programs, and a series of exhibitions designed to illuminate the natural world through the lens of Utah’s human and natural history. The Museum has a total of 51,270 square feet of public interpretive space. With the purpose of setting “clear eyes to the future,”
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Natural History Museum of UtahBecky MenloveBarbara Becker
This tracking and timing study was carried out by Serrell and Associates in April of 2013 as a second phase of the Museum's visitor research program for its new facility and exhibition experiences (see Whole-Museum Stay-Time Study of April 2012 for the first phase of this work). The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) at the Rio Tinto Center opened in November 2011, with a total of 51,270 square feet of public interpretive space. In 2012, NHMU began a multiphase evaluation process to help staff members understand the experiences that visitors have during their visits to the new building. The
The third and final study, completed by Serrell and Associates in April 2014 in a program of visitor research at the Natural History Museum of Utah. The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) opened in November 2011, with a total of 51,270 square feet of public interpretive space. In 2012, NHMU began a multiphase evaluation process to help museum staff understand the experiences visitors have during their visits to the new building. The overall purpose of the research is to assess the degree to which the museum is meeting visitor needs and is having the desired impacts, so that future decisions
An evaluation of the Natural History Museum of Utah'(NHMU) "Trailhead to Utah" digital guide carried out by Frankly Green & Webb in March of 2014. The "Trailhead" is a digital ecosystem at the Natural History Museum of Utah consisting of touchscreen kiosks, a mobile guide, and a web portal for post-visit exploration. Since launching, the Trailhead to Utah system has suffered from low usage. NHMU wanted to understand why the service (in particular its mobile/smartphone element) was underused, and how it could be changed to offer a better visitor experience. In scoping the project, one key
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Natural History Museum of UtahBecky MenloveLindsey GreenPaul Tourle
A report on a visitor study about three digital "talk-back stations" located in exhibitions at the Natural History Museum of Utah (NMHU). In multiple locations in the Museum, non-digital visitor participation/visitor content contribution opportunities are offered with great success using sticky notes and guest-book formatted writing opportunities. However, it quickly became apparent that the Canyon Kiosks, Life Talkback and Land Talkback experiences were not meeting their original objectives. The aim of this research was to identify the issues impacting their success and subsequently develop
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Natural History Museum of UtahBecky MenloveLindsey GreenAlyson Webb
This article describes the Collectors' Corner Neighborhood Trading Places (CCNTP) program. CCNTP is a collaboration between the Science Museum of Minnesota, the R.H. Stanford Library branch of the Washington County Library, and the Highland Park Library branch of the Saint Paul Public Library. The CCNTP program invites children and visitors of all ages to bring natural objects to the location and share their knowledge about them, earning points which allow them to trade for other items.
This report describes a research study conducted by User Experience Research Consulting, Inc. (UXR) contracted by the iSaveSpecies team that would inform the development of online extended engagement conservation activities to bridge and support zoo visitors, onsite experiences with computer-based conservation stations. The study focused on two key concepts: engagement and conservation. Across three phases, researchers investigated visitor attitudes, perceptions, and experiences related to conservation action through the iSaveSpecies system and in their personal lives, and their ideas and