Drawing on transformative experience theory (Pugh, 2011) and in collaboration with high school science teachers, the authors developed an intervention (Seeing Science project) leveraging everyday mobile technology as a tool for integrating in-school and out-of-school experience. Students were instructed to take pictures when they noticed…

Use this book to move science learning out of the classroom and into everyday life. Science has a profound capacity to transform how we experience the world, but it can be challenging to foster transformative experiences. When it comes to the science classroom, too often the Las Vegas slogan applies: What happens here stays here. Based on over 20…

We used the social-cognitive choice model (Lent et al., 2018) as a framework for investigating academic and career choice in the domain of geoscience for male and female students. In addition, we explored the role of perceived connection to instructors and transformative experience as additional factors in the social-cognitive choice model. A…

Transformative experience refers to learning episodes in which students use ideas from the science classroom to see and experience the world differently in their everyday lives. The construct is defined by three characteristics: (1) motivated use (application of learning in "free-choice" contexts), (2) expansion of perception (seeing…

Women are underrepresented in many undergraduate geoscience programs. Some departments are more successful at recruiting and retaining female students than others. To understand why, we investigated potential differences between more and less successful geoscience departments in terms of social support, institutional supports, institutional…

The Teaching for Transformative Experiences in Science (TTES) model was designed to facilitate the application of academic learning in students' everyday experiences. In the current study, we describe a 2-year design-based intervention that aimed to further develop and evaluate the TTES model. In the first year, a teacher implemented the TTES…

A sentiment held by Dewey and shared by other educators is that learning should enrich and expand everyday experience. However, this goal has not been a focus of research. In this article, I propose "transformative experience" as a construct capable of reflecting this goal and functioning as an empirical research construct. I discuss the…

This study investigated the prevalence of transformative experiences, antecedents of transformative experience, and the relation between transformative experience and deep-level learning (conceptual change and transfer) for high school biology students (N = 166). Results suggested that the high school students in our sample typically engaged in…

The Teaching for Transformative Experiences in Science (TTES) model is designed to foster transformative experiences (e.g., experiences with science content involving the application of that content in ways that expand perception and value in everyday experience). This study presents a case study of a high school biology teacher learning to…

With the premise that schooling should make a difference in students' everyday experience, the authors synthesize research on the influence of school learning on students' out-of-school experience by addressing the contributions and shortcomings of four research areas: (a) transfer, (b) out-of-school learning environments, (c) school-prompted…

One of the most profound qualities of science is its potential to transform and enrich students' experiences with the world. In prior work, I have conceptualized this quality of science in the construct of transformative experience. In order to illustrate the difference between transformative and nontransformative experience, this article presents…

Examined the effectiveness of two teaching elements (the artistic crafting of content and the modeling and scaffolding of perception and value) at fostering transformative experiences among students in a high school zoology class. Student outcomes were compared to the outcomes of students in a class taught with a case-based method. Significantly…