The Out-of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC) conducted literature searches of the UPENN library databases including PsycInfo, ERIC and Professional Development Collection for articles pertaining to promising practices in professional development and evaluating professional development. In addition to searching the library database, we conducted Google searches. We used various search terms and key words including the following: professional development and out-of-school time; professional development and program quality; promising practices and out of school time; professional development
Research in the out-of-school time (OST) field confirms that there is a strong connection between professional development (PD) for staff and positive outcomes for youth. According to Heather Weiss, Founder and Director of the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP), professional development for those who work with children and youth is fraught with challenges and ripe with opportunity and specifically, the opportunity to increase staff quality, which experts agree is critical to positive experiences for children and youth (Weiss, 2005/2006). However, as Thomas Guskey (1998) states, "For many
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University of PennsylvaniaNancy Peter
The goals of museum collaboration are several, as are its intended beneficiaries. Assuming the success of the practice, local communities can gain the opportunity for self-representation and self-determination, museums can contribute to the creation and dissemination of new kinds of knowledge, and visitors can take home better understandings of cultural difference. While these are the ideals of collaboration, they frequently go unrealized, in large part because, as research indicates, the visiting public fails to recognize the active involvement of communities at museums. This raises the
As mobile devices are increasingly merging into our daily lives, exhibition services are also facing innovation based on the newly available technologies. Our project addresses these new circumstances. We developed a mobile exhibition guide for the exhibition called "Mrs Brown's Big Day Out: Hamilton Women in the 1950s". That is organized by the Waikato Museum. The proposed system re-uses the TIP (Tourist Information Provider) system's framework and provides information via mobile devices to visitors on Victoria Street, which is an outdoor part of the exhibition. The information about a sight
Museums are blogging. At this writing, over 50 museum-administered blogs exist worldwide, while still more write about museums. Some blogs even focus their content specifically on the topic of museum blogging. However, museum blogging is still largely untouched in accessible professional or museological literature, save for articles on how museums can begin blogging and strategies they can employ to boost the visibility of their blog online. While useful, these articles fall under museum practice and rarely acknowledge museum theory. From a museological perspective, it is important to
Young people’s participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a matter of international concern. Studies and careers that require physical sciences and advanced mathematics are most affected by the problem and women in particular are under‐represented in many STEM fields. This article views international research about young people’s relationships to, and participation in, STEM subjects and careers through the lens of an expectancy‐value model of achievement‐related choices. In addition it draws on sociological theories of late‐modernity and identity, which situate
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Maria Vetleseter BoeEllen Karoline HenriksenTerry LyonsCamilla Schreiner
Knowledge of Climate Change Among Science & Technology Museum Visitors reports results from a national study of what the American public understands about how the climate system works, and the causes, impacts and potential solutions to global warming. This report describes how knowledge of climate change varies across Science and Technology Museum visitors. Using a straight grading scale, 38% of both occasional and frequent museum visitors received a passing grade (A, B, or C), compared to 19% of non-visitors. While knowledge levels vary across the groups, these results also indicate that
Governmental and institutional policy making in a number of countries has embedded public engagement strategies as a primary channel to connect citizens with scientific and technological innovation. Robotics is emerging as a key site for such new technological activity and its applications are likely to be increasingly notable in our lives in coming years. Robotics researchers are investing considerable time and effort in “engaging” publics. Concentrating on the findings of 24 qualitative interviews with those actively organizing or engaging publics, across 11 public engagement activities
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Clare WilkinsonKaren Bultitudeemily dawson
Since 1999, the Australian Museum has provided a designated play/learning space for young children aged 0–5 years. A recent redevelopment and redesign of the museum provided a valuable opportunity for a team of museum staff and university researchers to consult with young children about their experiences and expectations about this play space and the museum generally. This article reports the processes of consultation; methods used to consult with children; issues identified by the children involved; and the ways in which children's perspectives influenced the design of the new Kidspace. In
This article describes how after-school programs can nurture young scientists and boost the country's scientific literacy. It makes a case for integrating science into high-quality afterschool programs.
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The After-School CorporationLucy FriedmanJane Quinn
This article seeks to sharpen current conceptualizations of interests and engaged participation, and to derive lessons for the design of interest-driven science learning environments (formal and informal). The empirical basis of the research is a set of ethnographic records of two communities of amateur astronomers, as well as the details of astronomers' instantiations of the hobby. Hobbies are paradigmatic examples of interest-driven practices and thus they offer an excellent window into truly interest-related phenomena and processes. The analysis and data collection followed a grounded
This article adds to sociocultural theories of learning by investigating knowing and learning in the hobby of model rocketry. Hobbies are paradigmatic of interest-based, long-term pursuits and studying the tailored practices the rocketeers craft for themselves sheds further light on the relationship between the nature of practices and the learning processes that emerge in their enactment. My window into this issue is the core problem of determining the stability of model rockets, across phases of design, construction, and flying. Using ethnographic and experimental data, I catalog the various