The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico is creating citizen science projects in five research areas (insect monitoring; coastal/river system management; bird communities; bat assemblages; and cultural resources) that allow 140 Hispanic residents of Puerto Rico (age 14 and older) to move along a continuum of research involvement from contributor to collaborator to co-creator. As citizen scientists engage in scientific research that measures the effects of urban development on the Manati River watershed in northern Puerto Rico, the project team is evaluating the degree to which participants show changes in science knowledge, skills, attitudes, communication, and behavior. The proposed project is accelerating the development of citizen science activities in Puerto Rico. New scientific knowledge generated by citizen scientists will have practical importance within and beyond the Manati watershed because Puerto Rico is undergoing rapid urban development, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and emergence of environmental problems such as lower water quality. Environmental data collected by citizen scientists will form an environmental database that permits long-term watershed monitoring and informs land use decision making.
A major goal for the Garibay Group is to provide the team with a working document that could help inform their thinking in developing the new Gallery of Natural Sciences. This report is an analysis and synthesis of the literature on dioramas. The review focused on the question: "What do we know about visitor outcomes at habitat dioramas and how are those outcomes achieved?"
This research investigated ways in which habitat dioramas contribute to visitors’ development of Sense of Place. Visitors’ responses to dioramas at the Field Museum (Chicago) and Denver Museum of Nature and Science were studied, using observations, interviews, and a Diorama Sense of Place survey instrument. Although observations revealed few conversations about the places depicted in the dioramas, other data revealed that dioramas inspired memories and connections to place. A complex set of factors contributed to visitors’ feelings of Place Bondedness. Visitors expressed the strongest
This paper explores how a school-day science and nutrition curriculum, Choice, Control and Change (C3), shaped student thinking, decision making, and actions outside the classroom. The curriculum taught health science content and engaged students in activities focused on analyzing and changing their personal health choices.
This paper reports on a two-year schoolwide professional development initiative designed to enhance teachers’ pedagogical skills in inquiry-based science instruction. The programme emphasised the importance of time for reflection and the role of collaboration among participating teachers to ensure sustained change in their beliefs and practice.
This review paper summarises the current state of research on professional development in science education. It offers a number of insights and recommendations for the many informal science institutions that offer teacher professional development courses.
This study investigated what exemplary African American science teachers do to develop interest in science among low-income African American elementary students. The researchers found three interrelated approaches: (1) Having a genuine interest—in science, in teaching, and in students’ lives; (2) Scaffolding students’ interest in science; and (3) Offering multiple standpoints—many ways for students to engage.
This article uses critical ethnography and analysis of student talk to refute claims that Haitian children are less than fully engaged in science classrooms. Josiane Hudicourt-Barnes provides examples from a bilingual science classroom to explain cultural differences in language and in students’ understanding of scientific argumentation. Hudicourt-Barnes posits that the Creole talk style of bay odyans is naturally scientific because it uses logic in argumentation. Ultimately, Hudicourt-Barnes proposes, cultural ways of thinking and speaking are good bases for science talk, particularly for
This article describes how two inquiry games promoted student science skills in a museum setting while minimizing demands on teachers, fostering collaboration, and incorporating chaperones. Students who played these games engaged in more scientific inquiry behaviors than did students in control groups.
In this study, researchers investigated levels of awareness of and responsibility for global climate change in two groups of children. The researchers argue that understanding the nature of beliefs, and how they may be modified by particular influences, is important if educators are to challenge the status quo, in which “the majority of individuals do not believe that they are responsible for or can engage in any actions which will be environmentally efficacious” (Uzzell, 2000, p. 314).
Despite increasing interest in the educational potential of outdoor learning experiences, limited research has focused on assessing and identifying “good” outdoor education practice. In this paper, the authors propose a theoretically based practical framework for assessing field trips in nature parks and other outdoor settings. The framework was developed and refined during the course of observations of 22 field trips and interviews with 41 students.