Much has been written about the benefits of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity for addressing environmental issues, but how do we teach such collaboration? Here, we describe our experiences attempting to foster collaboration between undergraduate students from sociology, environmental studies, and photography. We describe and reflect on a…

Despite mounting evidence of global environmental stress, many educationalists appear to be discounting warnings of ecological collapse from scientists, futurists and community leaders. One way of promoting sustainability awareness may be to combine cognitive reasoning with emotional awareness. This article considers the complex dynamics relating…

Hands-on digital interactivity in science centers provides new communicative opportunities. The "Microcosmos" multi-touch table allows visitors to interact with 64 image "cards" of (sub)microscopic biological structures and processes embedded across seven theme categories. This study presents the integration of biological…

Inspired by critical literacy practices, sixth-grade students at Carter Elementary designed, curated, and publicly displayed a museum exhibit to expose and confront issues of social justice. Through this case study of one display within the exhibit, we analyze the ideas and stances represented in each of its artifacts and investigate how,…

One STEAM (STEM + Arts) strategy is to supplement traditional STEM instruction with music. Using music could provide the dual benefits of (1) making STEM content more accessible and (2) enhancing students' engagement in the learning process. Here we explore the extent to which music-oriented high school students achieve these two benefits when…

In this paper we highlight the issues and opportunities of a participatory action research (PAR) and co-design project, currently being undertaken as engaged research between academics at Durham University and practitioners at the UK's International Centre for Life in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (CfL; see creativescienceatlife.com for more information and…

This study aims to determine the effect of using out-of-school learning environments in science teaching on motivation for learning science. It is a quasi-experimental study and it has been designed as pre- and posttest experimental study. The study was carried out with seventh grade students enrolled in a secondary school in the city centre of a…

This article introduces an international and interdisciplinary summer school, 'Living in the Landscape' (LiLa) in 2018. LiLa's practices focused on creating dialogue among art education, anthropology and nature science and developing culturally sustainable methods for investigating cultural heritage in the Komi Republic of Russia. The article's…

Background: Social transformation in South Africa is a sensitive issue because of the historical realities of segregation and past injustices. Aim: To address transformation, Visual Communication Design students were asked to design an exhibition, event, sculpture or garden to memorialise the forced removals that took place on the site of the…

This study expands on the concept of outreach programs: museum initiatives that look for ways to reach and share knowledge outside their installations, often to schools. We aim to study approaches for the development of content for a history museum outreach program using digital technologies. The significance of this lies in investigating ways to…

In December 2017, the Smithsonian unveiled a new Strategic Plan. It expands on the five "Grand Challenges"--Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe, Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet, Valuing World Cultures, Understanding the American Experience, and Magnifying the Transformative Power of Arts and Design--by setting goals…

In the summer of 2016, the Staten Island Museum was challenged with developing an audience for its new building and location. With exhibitions that change infrequently, programs became the way guests accessed museum resources. Museum staff reinvented the personality of museum programming while putting its new location "on the map." The…

In 2016, the education department at the National Building Museum offered a series of Late Night programs in conjunction with the Summer Block Party installation, ICEBERGS. The museum wanted to evaluate the programs but had limited resources to do so. In the following article, we describe the use of critical appraisal, an economic method applied…

In this article I use a visitor-focused lens to examine ways in which art therapy and art museum education share similar goals and could join their efforts to serve people and communities in mutually beneficial ways. Benefits of such collaboration include affective and social development and education of visitors, a useful framework for exploring…

Informal science learning aims to improve public understanding of STEM. Free-choice learners can be engaged in a wide range of experiences, ranging from watching entertaining educational videos to actively participating in hands-on projects. Efforts in informal science learning are often gauged by their ability to elicit interaction, to foster…