A class visit to an informal science center can do wonders to broaden students? horizons while challenging creative thinking. However, students will get much more out of the visit with a little preparation. One of the best ways to prepare students is by providing them with a focus question to research during the visit. Some centers will be able…

The annual Philbrick Science Showcase is a family event that celebrates students' science learning and highlights an ongoing partnership with the Boston Nature Center, a Massachusetts Audubon Society sanctuary within walking distance of the Philbrick school. At least twice a year, students visit the Nature Center to extend the science curriculum,…

This paper describes the Science in the City seminar, an innovative approach to in-service and preservice science teacher development that bridges formal and informal science learning contexts. Drawing upon the tenets of design and evaluation research, the study focuses on the teachers' presentations of evidence of student learning from trips they…

A Louisiana architect has created plans for a unique supplementary learning environment consisting of five circular buildings featuring a planetarium, an indoor display of small animals in their native habitat, an indoor pond, a library, a media center, and an auditorium. (Author/MLF)

The goal of this study is to explore new tools for analyzing scientific sense-making in out-of-school settings. Although such measures are now common in science classroom research, dialogically based methodological approaches are relatively new to informal learning research. Such out-of-classroom settings have more recently become a breeding…

This dissertation investigates how teaching in a hands-on science center contributes to re/shaping one's teaching identity. Situated at the New York Hall of Science (NYHS) in Queens, New York, my research approach is to conduct a critical ethnography where the focus is on improving the teaching and learning of science for all involved. In…

The gifts of George Peabody, self-made millionaire and educational philanthropist, made possible the Peabody Museum of Salem. The article details the life of Peabody, then explains how he created the museum to promote science, detailing its maritime history, natural history, and ethnology departments. (SM)

Examines the debate about how science should be re/presented in informal science settings, specifically the possibility of science centers and science museums addressing socio-scientific issues. Situates the debate within the current science education literature on the nature of science (NOS) and science, technology, society and environment (STSE)…

Virtual museums focus on a specific curriculum theme and showcase electronic museum-type collections such as artifacts, paintings, photographs, numerous databases, and Web links to resources around the world. Museums of all types include vital teaching tools that help students make discoveries and form connections with the past, present, and…

Science museum staff face a constructivist dilemma as they design their public spaces: the exhibits should facilitate science learning, yet they also need to support a diverse visiting public in making their own personal choices about where to attend, what to do, and how to interpret their interactions. To be effective as teaching tools, exhibits…

This study looked at 30 primary aged children between 10 and 11 years old who were visiting the Eden Project, Cornwall and participating in workshops led and designed by the Eden Education Officers. The study attempted to directly test the effects of the Education Officers' workshops on children's learning. Personal meaning mapping, a…

A unique underground science center at Bluffton College, designed to save energy and preserve trees, rolling landscape, and other environmental features of the campus, is under construction in Bluffton, Ohio. (Author)

A decision to upgrade and integrate all the science facilities at Wellesley College was accomplished by renovating an old building and attaching a new structure. (Author/MLF)