It has been determined that some 60% of wetlands worldwide have been destroyed in the last 100 years, and, for more than a decade, researchers have warned of a global freshwater imperative. In the context of these environmental deteriorations and ecological crises, teaching about environmental issues and ways to preserve the world's environment…

Mathematics teacher noticing as a pedagogical practice--attending to, interpreting, and responding to children's mathematical thinking--is growing within mathematics education communities. Much of the research literature primarily focuses on supporting teacher noticing of children's mathematical thinking within classroom contexts, such as…

In this paper I report on the sociological and educational particulars of "The Biodiscovery Space" exhibition of the Life Museum of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, using Basil Bernstein's framework of pedagogic discourse and recontextualization. Data for analysis was obtained from interviews with the exhibition…

The combination of pedagogy and political aims, a constant theme in the progressive school education literature, is reflected as well in the history of museum education. Museum educators, following the lead of John Dewey, advocated for experiential pedagogy, a natural course for museums since they emphasize learning from objects and experiences…

In a world of increasing scientific and technological complexity, where science and technology play an expanding role in our lives, there is need for a democratic citizenry that is skilled at discussing and making choices that are informed by science and shaped by individual and collective values. Although an oft argued rationale for teaching…

This article explores the impact of an augmented reality iPad-based mobile game, called The Great STEM Caper, on students' interaction at a science center. An open-source, location-based game platform called ARIS (i.e. Augmented Reality and Interactive Storytelling) was used to create an iPad-based mobile game. The game used QR scan codes and a…

This paper describes an interactive museum exhibit featuring an avatar of Alan Turing that informs museum visitors about artificial intelligence and Turing's seminal Turing Test for machine intelligence. The objective of the exhibit is to engage and motivate visiting children in the hope of sparking an interest in them about computer science and…

This paper presents a social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time. Our perspective is rooted in the Danish tradition of critical psychology (Dreier, 1997; Mørck & Huniche, 2006; Nissen, 2005), and we use social practice theory to interpret the pathway of one adolescent whom we followed as part of a longitudinal…

The potential of augmented reality technologies (AR) for learning in a social and informal setting has been recognized, but little is yet known about the kinds of learning interactions it promotes and supports. In this paper, we describe initial findings from a study where an interactive, immersive, full-body simulation was deployed in a science…

Using families as the analytical focus, this study informs the field of informal science education with a focus on the role of prior experiences in family science conversations during nature walks at an outdoor-based nature center. Through video-based research, the team analyzed 16 families during walks at a nature center. Each family's prior…

Dinosaurs have been a very popular science topic since signs of their presence on earth were first discovered. They have represented so-called "edutainment" for some people. Learning from informal sources and in- an out-of-school environment can be effective and motivating. In this study, 12-year-old pupils (N = 366) visited a dinosaur…

Theatre is often introduced into science museums to enhance visitor experience. While learning in museums exhibitions received considerable research attention, learning from museum theatre has not. The goal of this exploratory study was to investigate the potential educational role of a science museum theatre play. The study aimed to investigate…

The number of science and discovery centres has grown exponentially over the last two centuries. Science and discovery centres are one of the top five stimuli that influence a career choice in science. Their history, growth, impact and role in the public understanding of science are discussed. (Contains 2 tables, 7 figures, and 21 online…

This paper discusses some of the issues surrounding the nature of adult play. More specifically, we explore "family play-learning", where play activities result in forms of added knowledge or insight for the adults involved. Adult play itself is an under-researched area, and play-learning even more so. We discuss related research and, in…

The purpose of this study is to develop the scale concerning gifted children's' skills for making decisions and coping with anger and to examine the validity and reliability of the scale. A total of 324 students, which 151 were female and 173 were male, studying in 3 different Science and Arts Center's (BILSEM) in Istanbul during 2014-2015…