Questions have a critical role in learning and teaching. People ask questions to obtain information and express interest in ideas. The Bristol scientific centre "We The Curious" launched "Project What If" in 2017 to inspire residents of Bristol to record their questions and pursue their curiosities. Researching these questions…

Science centres are informal learning spaces embedded with artefacts embodying mediational affordances. This exploratory and small-scale mixed methods study juxtaposes eye-tracking technologies and qualitative interviews to examine how visitors to a gallery navigated this space and interacted with different artefacts. A total of 15 visitors to the…

Science Cafés create open, public forums to promote the exchange of ideas between science experts and the public. This study explored Science Café attendees' interest in science content, and motivational factors in attending events as well as documenting what attendees did with the information presented at an event through the means of a survey (n…

Science centers, despite their growing popularity (Association of Science and Technology Centers [ASTC], 2022), have diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) concerns (Garibay & Olson, 2020) that threaten the achievement of their mission (Feinstein & Meshoulam, 2014) and the very utility of their existence (Ash 2022; Dawson, 2019). The…

In this paper, the authors focus on theoretical discussions regarding the socio-scientific issues based exhibition, whose importance has become greater for science centers in the past two decades, but has no clear definition. We examine the background of the socio-scientific issues based exhibition, including its scope and qualities, through…

This paper draws on a multi-phase project that sought to understand and increase young children's engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) objects. The paper presents findings from one aspect of this project that involved using storytelling to support young children's agency with STEM objects in a UK science museum.…

This paper explores how biodiversity is represented at the "Life in Crisis Schad Gallery of Biodiversity" (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto). Using theoretical perspectives related to science, technology, society and environment (STSE), and biodiversity in science museums, we conducted a qualitative case study of the exhibit. Data…

This study aims to explore the perspectives of gifted students on augmented reality, one of the innovative possibilities offered by instructional technologies. Action research involved 40 gifted students aged 10-11, enrolled in a Science and Art Center (SAC). Over the course of five weeks, the study focused on teaching various topics related to…

Local implementation of science reform efforts in part relies on science teacher leaders (STLs) to improve science instruction in classrooms and beyond. The lack of science-specific professional learning resources drives STLs to act as boundary spanners to locate resources outside their local context to fill that gap. Museums and other informal…

The transformation of natural history and science museums from receptacles (temples) to facilitators (forums) of knowledge fosters discourse around issues relating to science and society, known as social scientific issues (SSI). To assist guests with enhanced object-based learning, extended reality (XR) technologies are thought to leverage the…

This paper reports on the results of a research-practice partnership that included a U.S. university research team and a state-funded grants program that supports informal science education. The goal of the 2-year partnership was to develop an empirically-tested model for collaboration and capacity-building (CCB) in support of collective…

School visits to science museums are recognized educational resources that provide students with unique learning experiences, if teachers intentionally plan these. Surprisingly one finds that investigations analyzing teachers adopted practices by systematic monitoring, without researcher intervention, are almost non-existent in the literature. We…

This paper examines the praxeology of informal educational practices (i.e. how participants produce setting-specific practices to make a tour happen) in the Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra through close analysis of a video-recorded excerpt of a guided tour. Guided visits in informal science settings are…

This qualitative study investigated perceptions of STSE topics manifested by adults visiting four biodiversity exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Canada. Seven visitors were observed by researchers during their visits and completed post-visit interviews. The theoretical perspective on STSE relationships expounded by Pedretti…

As part of a public education outreach effort, an introduction to the health effects of ionizing radiation and the field of medical physics was developed by a clinical medical physicist. The presentation was delivered to a broad public audience in 2019 (prior to COVID-19 safety concerns) through a community outreach science literacy program that…