Learning by engaging in the practices of a discipline (practice-based learning) provides museum visitors with opportunities to construct understandings that build on their prior experiences and interests. However, effectively facilitating such learning experiences is difficult. We present a framework that supports facilitators in providing…

The Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) was set up to give science students the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research projects. Teachers and students can access data and equipment that enable them to tackle real-life issues. As a result, not only do students gain in confidence and experience in their scientific work, they are also able…

Interactive science centers are unique players in the science education community, but their positioning as both authorities on science and providers of "free choice" learning presents learning researchers with a problematic contradiction rooted in the complexities of trying to be both "scientific" and "education" organizations. Using insight from…

"Nature at Your Doorstep" is an outgrowth of a successful environmental education program offered as a school field trip at a Nature Discovery Center. It was developed and used with thousands of students throughout Bellaire, Texas and the surrounding Houston metroplex. The purpose of this program is to kindle students' curiosity and…

The purpose of a study was to explore the link between conceptual understanding, free exploration of hands-on science center exhibits, and Piagetian cognitive developmental levels. In this primarily qualitative study, which is based upon interview and observational data, patterns in children's behavior relating to specific hands-on science center…

This publication is the result of a collaboration between the Environmental Education Council of Ohio (EECO) and the Office of Environmental Education at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). This directory of environmental education resources within the state of Ohio is intended to assist educators in finding information that can…