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programs such as Tinkering EU: Science capital for all (2017) and Science Inspired (2018). These two groups of professionals are asked to bring students closer to STEM fields, while intriguing them through the Abstract: Current science curricula adopt inquiry as a basic component in their proposals, and at the same time they place emphasis on the non-formal aspect of education, due to the fact that inquiry is easier to be implemented in science centers and museums. In this context, both teachers and museum educators' roles are viewed with a common lens, as though both groups of professionals have critical roles in the success of a school museum visit, they do not necessarily share the same agenda for the visit. In the present small-scale qualitative research, we studied two Greek science teachers and two museum educators who attended a joint professional development course on the Tinkering approach in Milan in the context of an EU funded project. We looked into the impact of the joint course on their views about inquiry and specifically their views about inquiry before and after being exposed to inquiry based Tinkering activities. We also studied their views about the joint course per se. Data collection was based on semi-structured interviews and the participants' notes. The results point both to some different and common points between teachers and museum educators' views. The opportunity to exploit the results in a broader non-formal science education context is also being discussed.

Our study looks into science museum educators’ views and their practices about inquiry in non-formal venues, such as NOESIS, Greece. On this ground, we developed an interview protocol to use as a basis in the semi-structured interviews conducted with four science museum educators to cast light on their views about inquiry. In addition, an observation protocol was modified in order to observe their practices when implementing educational programs for school groups. Data analysis showed that in regard to the museum educators’ views, they all expressed a slightly different view about inquiry, which was either empirically or intuitively based. They all agreed that inquiry is easier adopted in non-formal settings and argued that students’ main gain when they get engaged in inquiry-based activities is the actual involvement they experience. As regards the museum educators’ practices, a repertoire of teaching approaches was observed, ranging from a traditional teacher-centered approach to open inquiry. Building on our data, we suggest the development and implementation of a professional development course that will enrich science museum educators’ inquiry views and practices and empower them to integrate inquiry-based practices into their own.