Designed learning environments like museums have the potential to change the way that families think and talk about scientific topics together in everyday contexts like the home. The current study examines the affect of a visit to a museum exhibit highlighting the processes of manufacturing on the ability of parents and children to talk about how familiar objects are made. A model for family knowledge building is also presented as a means of assessing whether parents and children improved their understanding of manufacturing processes after their museum visit. A simulated home activity
While we should celebrate our success at evolving many vital aspects of the human-technology interactive experience, we question the scope of this progress. Step back with us for a moment. What really matters? Everyday life spans a wide range of emotions and experiences -- from improving productivity and efficiency to promoting wonderment and daydreaming. But our research and designs do not reflect this important life balance. The research we undertake and the applications we build employ technology primarily for improving tasks and solving problems. Our claim is that our successful future
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Eric PaulosTom JenkinsAugust JokiParul Vora
The use of the term virtual is commonly associated with the idea of an extension of reality. Similarly, the expression virtual museum is usually adopted to mean a process of duplication of a physical museum and its objects, enabled by information technologies. Therefore, virtual museum has become a useful synonym for multimedia products or Web sites capable of providing new and fresh experiences of a specific museum and its heritage. However, in order to understand and explore further opportunities, profound reflection is necessary. We need to question and investigate the contemporary role of
The Silence of the Lands is a virtual museum of natural quiet. The project promotes a model for preservation, experience, and renewal of natural heritage that empowers the active and constructive role of local communities in the collection and interpretation of natural quiet as a cultural object. This is accomplished by using ambient sounds as conversation pieces of a social dialogue aimed at transforming the virtual museum in a place of cultural negotiation; that is, to make the virtual museum a living organism linking the people, visions, interpretations, and values that pertain to a
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elisa GiaccardiHal EdenGerhard Fischer
This paper describes the integration of handheld computer technology into an existing web-based educational platform, the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) and the synergy it produces. This solution facilitated a research program that explores how handheld computers (PDAs, palmtops, etc.) can expand the scope and functionality of inquiry activities in K-12 science and mathematics curriculum. The paper presents the WISE software and curriculum and explains how combining it with handheld technology creates unique educational opportunities. It then goes on to describe the system that
Open collaborative authoring systems such as Wikipedia are growing in use and impact. How well does this model work for the development of educational resources? In particular, can volunteers contribute materials of sufficient quality? Could they create resources that meet students’ specific learning needs and engage their personal characteristics? Our experiment explored these questions using a novel web-based tool for authoring worked examples. Participants were professional teachers (math and non-math) and amateurs. Participants were randomly assigned to the basic tool, or to an enhanced
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Turadg AleahmadVincent AlevanRobert Kraut
This dissertation investigates how teaching in a hands-on science center contributes to re-shaping one’s teaching identity. Situated at the New York Hall of Science (NYHS) in Queens, New York, my research approach is to conduct a critical ethnography where the focus is on improving the teaching and learning of science for all involved. In particular, Explainers, floor staff at NYHS, who are studying to be science teachers, are invited to become co-researchers with me.
This thesis adds to the empirical research foundation of informal science education through an investigation of a museum-based astronomy internship for high school students, in the domains of attitudes toward science, knowledge of science, and participatory science learning. Results are presented as three studies, all using a qualitative methodology and including the methods of semi-structured interview, reflective journal, direct observation, audio recording, and artifact collection.
Conservation education at zoos, parks and other free-choice conservation settings is geared towards teaching and/or reinforcing certain key conservation messages that relate to the mission of the institution. These messages are communicated through a variety of channels ranging from interpretive signage, to resource elements (e.g., animals, scenic vistas, etc.) and personnel (e.g., docents and interpreters. A number of studies have focused on the outcome of visits to such settings, but little is known about the accuracy of message communication through these channels, or the factors that
During times of continuing growth of digital resources for teaching, learning and research, the key objective of this study is to evaluate the genuine suitability of online publishing tools – podcasting in particular – as a means to make art more accessible. The first part of the thesis addresses the nature of the changes which affect museums today: the rapid digitisation of culture, changes in the way artists produce, museums present and audiences consume art, and finally the challenges and opportunities which arise for museums within a Web 2.0 environment. The analysis of these key contexts
This study traced the evolution of experiential education in American history museums from 1787 to 2007. Because of a decline in attendance, museum educators need to identify best practices to draw and retain audiences. I used 16 museology and history journals, books, and archives of museums prominent for using the method. I also interviewed 15 museum educators who employ experiential learning, one master interpreter of the National Park Service, and an independent museum exhibit developer. Experiential education involves doing with hands touching physical materials. Four minor questions
The Adult Child Interaction Inventory (ACII) was developed as part of a research to practice collaboration between the Boston Children’s Museum and Evergreene Research and Evaluation. Preschoolers, Parents, and Educators: Strategies to Support Early Science Literacy (PPE), funded by the National Science Foundation and led by Boston Children’s Museum aimed to better understand the range of non-verbal as well as verbal interactions that occur between adults and children during collaborative science investigation. Results of project research contributed to the development of an exhibit, Peep’s