Constructivist pedagogical approaches have become common in many science curricula. However, while sciences such as physics and chemistry lend themselves to compelling opportunities for interaction (explosions, reactions, objects in motion), certain systems sciences are more challenging for learners to engage with on a short time scale. Applying…

School in the Park is a museum-based intervention intended to nurture the resilience of inner-city students in third grade to fifth grade. The academic resilience and personal development of participants were compared to those of nonparticipants for 2 years. Although the groups differed in academic resilience for the duration of the study, they…

When an instructor reframed the social studies methods course to include a service-learning project, both education certification students and a museum's outreach program benefited. University students gained practical teaching experience leading a children's summer class about local prairie dogs, and the museum gained quality teachers.…

Museums and cultural institutions have long provided a crucial resource for students and teachers in science classes. Many of those institutions consider working with schools to be a core part of their missions. This article describes Urban Advantage, one of the largest and most coordinated programs in the country which goes further than many…

Informal science is a burgeoning field that operates across a broad range of venues and envisages learning outcomes for individuals, schools, families, and society. The evidence base that describes informal science, its promise, and effects is informed by a range of disciplines and perspectives, including field-based research, visitor studies, and…

With increasing emphasis on multicultural art education and integrative pedagogy, educators have incorporated community resources, such as cultural artifacts exhibited in art museums, to enrich their programs. Cultural artifacts are human-made objects which generally reveal historic information about cultural values, beliefs, and traditions.…

This report aimed to measure the impact of a unique professional development program entitled Project ASTER III (Active Science Teaching Encourages Reform) on teachers' self-efficacy and perceptions about inquiry-based science teaching. Project ASTER III enabled teachers to explore inquiry-based science teaching through exhibit-based…

In 1792 more than 350,000 people in Britain signed a petition calling for an end to the slave trade. It was, writes historian Adam Hochschild in his book "Bury the Chains," "the first time in history that a large number of people became outraged, and stayed outraged for many years, over someone else's rights". In 1807--after 15…

This article briefly discusses a seminar that will focus on the fifth annual Folk Art Festival at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, with additional emphasis on Georgia O'Keeffe's life and art in New Mexico, and Hispanic and Native American cultural traditions. Activities include museum visits, field trips, invited speakers,…

On a visit to Russia the author was able to inspect the Moscow papyrus, fragments of an ancient Egyptian mathematical document. (SD)

A description of "video observation," a technique developed at Hebrew University, Israel. (HB)

The author discusses Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer's work as an architecture that understands and appreciates what is unique in built America and as one that is "collaged" from ideas and pieces peculiar to that environment. (Author)

Describing the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, this brochure on the Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico presents information on the Cultural Center itself, the Center's museum exhibit, the origin myths of the Pueblos, Pueblo migrations, and the coming of foreigners to Pueblo lands. Relating oral history with archaelogical facts,…

Presents a variety of activities for using museum exhibits to teach concepts such as line, movement, rhythm, space, sound, and shape. (JMB)

The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Loretto, Pennsylvania, was a former college gymnasium built in the 1920s now converted into an independent museum. (Author/MLF)