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Science centres and science museums face challenges such as increased accountability, increased demands for accessibility, and growing competition from leisure experiences. On their own, the traditional museum practices of preservation, communication, and research are insufficient to address these challenges. Accordingly, we use the framework of eight museum meta-functions, presented by Dubuc (2011) and further developed here, to understand how these institutions respond to calls for change. We analyse the presentations of staff members from 21 science centres and science museums, given at the 2013 Ecsite conference, to map out how these institutions address modern-day challenges. This analysis generates a new framework of nine metafunctions for science centres and science museums that can guide and help qualify discussions about their present and future activities. We discuss the new meta-functions as evidence of a turn away from the self-referential museum functions of the past, towards a more complete externalisation of purpose. This is the pre-print version of the manuscript published as Achiam, M., & Sølberg, J. (2017). Nine metafunctions for science museums and science centres. Museum Management and Curatorship, 32(2), 123-143. The final publication is available at Routledge via http://dx.

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Educators' work is a key element in museums' learning experience, yet knowledge about their professional development is still limited. In this study, we followed three science museum educators' professional growth during collaboration with researchers, with special focus on the introduction of research-based frameworks in their practice. To analyse the dynamics of educators' changes in knowledge, practices, and beliefs, we used the interconnected model of professional growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002. Teach Teacher Edu, 18, 947-967). During the collaboration, key educators' changes were evidenced in a progressive acquisition of the concepts and ideas and their transformation in functional tools for museum practice. However, the anticipation of potential benefits of the use of the theoretical frameworks, as well as the close collaboration in dialogue between researchers and educators, were pivotal for the development of these changes. Furthermore, our results show the significance of the contextualization of the frameworks in familiar practices, exhibits, and specific science content to use the theory in new contexts. Overall, our results suggest that introducing research-based frameworks in the work of museum educators was a successful approach in the collaboration but, at least to some extent, challenge the use of learning theories as solely ground for professional development in informal settings. K E Y W O R D S practical epistemology analysis, praxeology, professional development Science Education. 2019;103:389-417.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sce