Toward an agenda for advancing research on science learning in out‐of‐school settings

Rennie, Léonie J.; Feher, Elsa; Dierking, Lynn D.; Falk, John H.

doi:10.1002/tea.10067

Cited by 194 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This idea is supported by National Research Council's [NRC] (1996) call for teachers to "experience learning in a variety of places where effective science teaching can be illustrated and modeled, permitting teachers to struggle with real situations and expand their knowledge and skills in appropriate contexts" (p. 62). Additionally, authentic PD experiences will allow science teachers to draw from their own learning experiences (Melber and Cox-Peterson 2005) as they attempt to facilitate similar learning in their students (Rennie et al 2003).…”

Section: Professional Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the Elbows of Scientists: Shaping Science Teachers’ Conceptions and Enactment of Inquiry-Based Instruction

McLaughlin

MacFadden

2014

Res Sci Educ

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This study stemmed from concerns among researchers that reform efforts grounded in promoting inquiry as the basis for teaching science have not achieved the desired changes in American science classrooms. Many science teachers assume that they are employing inquirybased strategies when they use cookbook investigations with highly structured step-by-step instructions. Additionally, most science teachers equate hands-on activities with classroom inquiry and, as such, repeatedly use prepackaged, disconnected activities to break the monotony of direct instruction. Despite participation in numerous professional development activities, many science teachers continue to hold misconceptions about inquiry that influence the way they design and enact instruction. To date, there is very limited research exploring the role of inquiry-based professional development in facilitating desired changes in science teachers' conceptions of inquiry. This qualitative study of five high school science teachers explores the ways in which authentic inquiry experiences with a team of scientists in Panama shaped their conceptions and reported enactments of inquiry-based instruction. Our findings suggest that professional development experiences engaging science teachers in authentic research with scientists have the potential to change teachers' naïve conceptions of inquiry, provided that necessary supports are provided for reflection and lesson design.

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Section: Professional Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the Elbows of Scientists: Shaping Science Teachers’ Conceptions and Enactment of Inquiry-Based Instruction

McLaughlin

MacFadden

2014

Res Sci Educ

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“…Drawing upon field observations and video recordings of visitors' verbal and bodily conduct, this paper explores the social organization of visitors' 'performances' that arises at the exhibit face and adds to recent debates that point to the importance of social interaction and conversation within the visitors' experience of exhibits (cf. Leinhardt, Crowley, & Knutson, 2002;Rennie, Feher, Dierking, & Falk, 2003). In so doing, we wish to put forward the argument that shared experiences in the form of performative activity can both create and sustain visitor engagement at computer-based exhibits.…”

Section: Nutzungsbedingungenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the growing focus on socio-cultural learning as one of the primary modes of learning within informal science institutions (Rennie, Feher, Dierking, & Falk, 2003), social interaction and collaboration have recently been highlighted by a large number of studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exhibiting Performance: Co‐participation in science centres and museums

Meisner

Lehn

Heath

et al. 2007

International Journal of Science Education

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NutzungsbedingungenThere is a growing commitment within science centres and museums to deploy computerbased exhibits to enhance participation and engage visitors with socio-scientific issues. As yet however, we have little understanding of the interaction and communication that arises with and around these forms of exhibits, and the extent to which they do indeed facilitate engagement. In this paper, we examine the use of novel computer-based exhibits to explore how people, both alone and with others, interact with and around the installations. The data are drawn from video-based field studies of the conduct and communication of visitors to the Energy Gallery at London's Science Museum. The paper explores how visitors transform their activity with and around computer-based exhibits into performances, and how such performances create shared experiences. It reveals how these performances can attract other people to become an audience to an individual's use of the system and subsequently sustain their engagement with both the performance and the exhibit. The observations and findings of the study are used to reflect upon the extent to which the design of exhibits enables particular forms of co-participation or shared experiences, and to develop design sensitivities that exhibition managers and designers may consider when wishing to engender novel ways of engagement and participation with and around computer-based exhibits. Hermanson, 1995;Hennes, 2002; Perry, 1989Perry, , 1993 Semper, 1990). As a result such institutions grapple with ways to support visitor engagement with science, and are thus concerned with visitor attitudes towards both science and representations of science. The authors of this paper, being a mix of academic researchers and practitioners at a science museum, respect that museum educators and exhibit developers take seriously the challenge of making subjects commonly perceived as boring or difficult engaging and have worked to develop ways to draw visitors into exhibits that aim to teach complex concepts from which most visitors would normally shy away. As such, a common task for those within the museum community, and perhaps more broadly within science education, is -how do you make the seemingly tedious engaging?Computer-based exhibits, particularly simulations and games, are often seen by museum educators and designers as a way forward -a means of engaging visitors with complex concepts in innovative ways (Farmelo & Carding, 1997 This paper seeks to contribute to the knowledgebase by looking at participation, and in particular how shared experiences arise both in and through visitors' performative activity with and around computer-based exhibits in the Energy Gallery at London's ScienceMuseum -exhibits that have been designed with, among other aims, the intention of engendering a range of activities that might be of interest to both the user(s) and the observers. Drawing upon field observations and video recordings of visitors' verbal and bodily conduct, this paper explores the social organi...

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“…These are already central features of the ISI learning environment (Falk & Dierking, 1992;Rennie, Feher, Dierking & Falk, 2003), therefore, ISIs have the potential to play a key role in K-12 science education reform efforts. Now, more than ever, it is important to understand the realities and nature of ISIs' work with K-12 schools.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School Site to Museum Floor: How informal science institutions work with schools

Phillips

Finkelstein

Wever-Frerichs

2007

International Journal of Science Education

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Nutzungsbedingungen AbstractTwo research studies sponsored by CILS investigated the programmes ISIs currently provide to support K-12 science education, particularly in the area of teacher professional development (PD). The first study was a large-scale survey with 475 ISIs responding about the programmes they offer schools and teachers beyond one-day field trips. A large majority of ISIs (73%) reported having one or more of these programmes, with more than half (59%) providing one or more forms of teacher PD. ISIs also reported a tendency for their programmes to be under-subscribed, and said funding was the biggest barrier to their ability to provide these programmes.A second study focused on ISI-based teacher professional development (PD) programmes, looking at whom they serve, how they are funded, and their specific programmatic elements. This study also investigated the extent to which ISI-based PD incorporates features shown to produce measurable effects on teachers' instructional practice. Researchers administered an intensive survey to over 310 ISIs with teacher PD offerings to obtain detail regarding the programming. The findings reported here indicate that the particular promise of ISI-based teacher PD is the potential to incorporate features of PD that research has shown to produce measurable effects on teachers' practice. The results from these two studies suggest that while some opportunities may be missed to leverage the strengths of the ISIs' learning environment in K-12 science education, ISIs continue to support K-12 science education in the US in important and varied ways.

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Toward an agenda for advancing research on science learning in out‐of‐school settings

Cited by 194 publications

References 18 publications

At the Elbows of Scientists: Shaping Science Teachers’ Conceptions and Enactment of Inquiry-Based Instruction

At the Elbows of Scientists: Shaping Science Teachers’ Conceptions and Enactment of Inquiry-Based Instruction

Exhibiting Performance: Co‐participation in science centres and museums

School Site to Museum Floor: How informal science institutions work with schools

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