Recent literature on mentoring revises the long-held notion of a dyadic, master-apprentice affiliation to better reflect the fluid, flexible, and even non-hierarchical dynamics that occur between mentors and mentees today. Relational mentoring, intersectional mentoring, and co-mentoring models offer frameworks for reconsidering the role of…

In this article, I explore how relationships can change the teaching practices of museum educators and strategies of entire organizations by empirically studying conversations museum educators have every day in meetings, in the hallways, and all the places where they talk about their work. I present the possibilities of reciprocal telling…

Background: This study explored science teachers' participation in a professional development partnership with informal science institutions (ISIs) designed for urban middle school science teachers, known as the "Urban Advantage Science Initiative." The teacher training involved a whole school focused approach, providing teaching…

The purpose of this article is to share highlights of a professional development workshop aimed at helping museum educators build capacity for difficult dialogues on race with adults. Public pedagogy affords museum educators a unique role in adult education as they facilitate adult learning on social justice issues. But in sharing with adults…

The Maker Movement has taken the educational field by storm due to its perceived potential as a driver of creativity, excitement, and innovation (Honey & Kanter, [Honey, M., 2013]; Martinez & Stager, [Martin, L., 2013]). Making is promoted as advancing entrepreneurship, developing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)…

Frontline museum floor staff people are critical agents in the field's efforts to catalyze greater community engagement and participation at the intersections of science, art, history, and society. Yet, coming from widely disparate backgrounds and often with little formal professional development in place, many museum-based education practices are…

Museum education leaders often find themselves thrust into greater responsibility without an opportunity to prepare themselves for the challenges ahead. In this article, I discuss my own struggles transitioning from manager of a specific program area to oversight of an entire education department. This transition happened unexpectedly, and the…

Researchers examined two independent museum education studies conducted at the same large science center in Toronto, Canada, and considered the implications of both studies for museum education. Study "A" explored museum development practice and its relation to casual visitor understandings of key concepts. Study "B" engaged…

To provide meaningful science experiences for students, educators need quality science experiences themselves from which to draw. Informal learning contexts, such as museums, are well positioned to provide educators with these professional development experiences. We investigated the impact museum-created professional development experiences had…