Learning environments that enable young people to participate in and engage with diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) practices hold promise for reimagining what counts as STEM and, ultimately, for broadening participation (Eisenhart & Allen, 2020). Out-of-school time (OST) STEM learning experiences have great…

There is increasing recognition that significant amounts of science learning take place over the course of one's lifetime and much of this learning takes place outside of the formal educational settings. This learning is often facilitated by educators in these informal science settings. While much is known about educators in formal classroom…

The focus of this article is on the connection between education and the Hanseatic League, a topic largely neglected in educational literature, although the qualification needs of Hanseatic merchants had a remarkable influence on the development of German and European education. The Hanseatic League as a network between merchant families, friends…

Service learning (SL) is both a pedagogy and philosophy adopted by many early childhood teacher educators. Extant research suggests the incorporation of service-learning can be effective for facilitating preservice teacher learning of curriculum, pedagogy, approaches to diverse learners and families as well as establishing a professional identity.…

Children's museums offer a rich collection of onsite and online resources to tap into children's curiosity and expand their horizons.

In the vast repository of research on family involvement in schools, researchers agree that both students and schools do better when families are involved (Epstein et al., 2009; Lareau, 2011; Mapp, 2002). There is little research, however, on parent involvement in the arts. Notwithstanding the lack of published data, programs offer funding and…

Preparing students to be effective citizens is a longstanding goal of public education. Historical content provides illustrative opportunities for civic learning. Teaching about the Holocaust exemplifies this approach. Employing an experimental research design with 865 secondary school students, we analyze effects on civic outcomes from learning…

Science and technology centers continue to emerge as hubs for building climate change and resiliency literacy in communities around the United States. What's less clear, however, is how these institutions foster and sustain climate action based on this acquired literacy. The Science Museum of Virginia developed, delivered, and evaluated climate…

The present article focuses on teaching and learning about the Holocaust in Sweden, conducted as study trips to Holocaust memorial sites. Although about a quarter of Swedish teenagers visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum each year, this study is the first to examine these Swedish study trips. Since there are no centralised systems for…

This paper argues that the terms through which we interpret and work to develop expansive pedagogical practices are overly constrained by the binary of adult-centered versus child-centered education. Analyzing ethnographic data developed over three years in a making/tinkering afterschool program serving Black, Latinx, and Asian American students…

Traditional museums of culture and history are failing to develop or make effective use of augmented reality (AR) technology. To address this deficit, the present study sought to develop online and offline experiential AR learning tools that would enable children to more fully explore museum artefacts. The study approach was based on the Blended…

In 2020, 90% of museums around the world closed due to COVID-19. During this time, many museums transitioned their programs online. This descriptive study examines how museums engaged in online learning one year after COVID-19 closures. The authors present the results of a survey completed by 90 museum professionals engaged in online learning and…

This article considers the inequities of digital museum programming during the COVID-19 pandemic and their alignment with audiences historically excluded from access to STEAM learning opportunities, primarily communities with low incomes and people of color. We employ an ecosystem framework to assert the critical role museums can play within…

The aim of study is to compare the contributions of virtual and real museum tours in terms of perceived presence and knowledge retention. The sample of study which was 28 third graders enrolled in a public primary school in an informal instructional process. There were two groups (virtual group and real group); one visited virtual museum (n=14),…

Biomimicry, the process of using nature to guide innovative thinking and development, can be useful in helping students grasp scientific concepts. Teachers interested in incorporating biomimicry into lesson plans might find that experiential learning at informal science institutions (ISIs) with natural models and artifacts is a valuable tool to…