By designing accountability systems that fully embrace the notion of afterschool programs as learning organizations and by using research from organizational development, education, and youth development to create effective learning environments, funders and sponsors can help programs to improve quality—and therefore, to succeed in their goal of achieving better outcomes for young people.
Self-assessment can be a powerful tool for evaluating program quality, yet the available self-assessment instruments do not comprehensively address practices that promote academic enrichment.
This review takes a critical position with regards to Treagust and Duit’s article, Conceptual Change: A discussion of theoretical methodological and practical challenges for science education. It is proposed that conceptual change research in science education might benefit from borrowing concepts currently being developed in the sociology of emotions. It is further suggested that the study of social interaction within evolving emotional cultures is the most promising avenue for developing and extending theories about conceptual change.
It has been 40 years since science, technology, society, and environment (STSE) education first appeared in science education research and practice. Although supported among many educators worldwide, there is much confusion surrounding the STSE slogan. Widely differing discourses on STSE education and diverse ways of practicing, have led to an array of distinct pedagogical approaches, programs, and methods. We are left wondering how we might orient ourselves amid such a diversity of propositions. What does STSE look like in practice? What ideological orientations underpin its practice? In this
This article focuses on educational enterprises outside the formal sector, such as museums, botanical gardens and interactive science centres. International research is drawn on to illuminate how design, culture, educational strategies and settings combine to affect the way in which young people respond to experiences on offer, leading to analysis of the impact of such settings in promoting learning, and the likely implications for those who staff such venues. Aikenhead's concept of the educator as 'culture broker' is developed to suggest ways in which learning might be best supported. It
This study examines the historical conditions that fostered significant reform in science education. To understand these conditions, we employ a framework drawn from the new institutionalism in organization theory to study the founding and early development of the Exploratorium—a prominent science center that greatly impacted the field of science education. We examine how the Exploratorium employed institutional resources that were available in its environment to develop a new type of organization: an interactive science center. Our findings reveal that the Exploratorium was shaped by the
This paper is birthed from my lifelong experiences as student, teacher, administrator, and researcher in urban science classrooms. This includes my years as a minority student in biology, chemistry, and physics classrooms, 10 years as science teacher and high school science department chair, 5-years conducting research on youth experiences in urban science classrooms, and current work in preparing science teachers for teaching in urban schools. These experiences afford me both emic and etic lenses through which to view urban science classrooms and urban youth communities. This paper, both
In this paper, research on interest and motivation is revisited in the context of informal science learning (ISL) settings such as museums, out-of school or after-school clubs or groups, science camps, and enrichment programs1. The ISL context differs from traditional school "cookbook" science in a number of critical ways: rather than emphasizing science information, it is designed to engage participants in inquiry-informed and free-choice opportunities to work with authentic science2. Productive participation in the ISL setting should enable the development of scientific literacy and
As organizations grow in size, geographical scope, and complexity, it is increasingly apparent that sponsorship and support of communities of practice—groups whose members regularly engage in sharing and learning, based on common interests—can improve organizational performance. Although many authors assert that communities of practice create organizational value, there has been relatively little systematic study of the linkage between community outcomes and the underlying social mechanisms that are at work. To build an understanding of how communities of practice create organizational value
The Magnet Lab has a strong commitment to education. Through the Center for Integrating Research & Learning, the lab supports educational programming at all academic levels: K-12, technical, undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral. Please explore the links listed to the left to find out more about the depth of our educational resources for the community, for teachers and for students as well as our unique research offerings. Our programs are designed to excite and educate students, teachers and the general public about science, technology and the world around them. All of our programs are developed in close collaboration with research scientists and educators. Housed at and partly funded by the MagLab, the Center is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the excellent resources, connections, world-class facilities and cutting-edge science the lab has to offer. We also receive generous support from the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida. The Center maintains a rigorous research agenda designed to investigate how Center programs and materials affect teachers and students. Our Mission Statement is to expand scientific literacy and to encourage interest in and the pursuit of scientific studies among educators and students of all ages through connections between the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the National Science Foundation, the community of Tallahassee, the State of Florida and the nation.
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
This report presents findings from a national exploratory study on professional knowledge and attitudes surrounding science identity as an applicable theory for understanding experiences in informal science education (ISE) environments. The study was distributed by email to 2,500 names on the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)’s mailing list. The survey received an 11% complete response rate with 288 complete responses, and another 181 partial responses, and an average of 15 years experience working in the ISE field for all complete respondents. The results
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Institute for Learning InnovationJohn FraserPatricia Ward