scholarly journals Designing Exhibits to Support Relational Learning in a Science Museum

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Jee ◽  
Florencia K. Anggoro
Keyword(s):  
Relational Learning ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Relational Thinking ◽  
Natural Category ◽  
Museum Displays ◽  
Similarity Space

Science museums aim to provide educational experiences for both children and adults. To achieve this goal, museum displays must convey scientifically-relevant relationships, such as the similarities that unite members of a natural category, and the connections between scientific models and observable objects and events. In this paper, we explore how research on comparison could be leveraged to support learning about such relationships. We describe how museum displays could promote educationally-relevant comparisons involving natural specimens and scientific models. We also discuss how these comparisons could be supported through the design of a display—in particular, by using similarity, space, and language to facilitate relational thinking for children and their adult companions. Such supports may be pivotal given the informal nature of learning in museums.

scholarly journals Moon, Mars and Mundus: primary school children discover the nature and science of planet Earth from experimentation and extra-terrestrial perspectives

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.G. Kleinhans ◽  
A.J. Verkade ◽  
T. van Wessel ◽  
M.A.S. Bastings ◽  
W.A. Marra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
University Education ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
The Right

AbstractLike earth and planetary scientists, most children are curious about the world, the solar system and the rest of the universe. However, for various reasons primary schools emphasise language and calculus rather than natural sciences. When science is taught, examination systems often favour knowledge of the ‘right’ answer over the process of investigation and logical reasoning towards that answer. In order to continue to spark children's curiosity and their motivation to learn and discover, science education hubs at universities and science museums could collaborate more with schools and teachers, and are beginning to do so. The objective of this position paper is to report on recent experiences in earth and planetary science education for pupils in primary and secondary education, to provide examples and inspiration for scientists. We report three examples of initiation and consolidation of science education in primary schools in the Netherlands: (1) a focus on asking questions and seeking information to reason towards the answer, initiated with a classroom game, Expedition Mundus, (2) bringing pupils and teachers together outside their school in the science museum to gain confidence and self-efficacy, and (3) having children ask their own questions and do their own research guided by the empirical cycle, for example on experimentation on sandbox scale models of channels and crater lake deltas as found on Mars. The focus on other planets, fictitious and real, stimulates pupils to ask questions about planet Earth. Finally, we argue that involvement of more scientists in science education would not only benefit primary and secondary schools and future students but also university education and science communication with society.

scholarly journals Awe and Epistemology in a Science Museum

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Price ◽  
Kimberly A Quinn ◽  
Jana Greenslit ◽  
Lauren Applebaum ◽  
Sheila Krogh-Jespersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Informal Science ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Positive Feelings ◽  
Negative Feelings ◽  
Aesthetic Thinking ◽  
The Relationship

Museums are located at the intersection of awe and learning: When guests arrive, they are expecting to be amazed, inspired, and educated. This is particularly true in science museums, and researchers have pointed to awe as an epistemic emotion that can promote science learning. We present two studies of awe in a science museum. The first study (n = 293) examined how awe—conceptualized as a multifaceted construct associated with positive feelings of liberation/connection, negative feelings of oppression/isolation, chills, and diminished-self perceptions—differed across museum locations and in relation to prior knowledge. The second study (n = 708) expanded the investigation to also examine the relationship between awe and critical thinking. Across both studies, we found that, relative to baseline spaces, vast, beautiful spaces elicited positive awe-related emotions (amazement, curiosity) and stronger awe correlates (chills, diminished-self perceptions); vast, threatening spaces also elicited stronger amazement, chills, and diminished-self perceptions—but also stronger oppression/isolation. In both studies, pre-visit knowledge was associated with awe experiences during the visit. In Study 2, we also found evidence for relationships between awe and skepticism and aesthetic thought, two aspects of critical thinking: Positive aspects of awe (liberation/connection, curiosity) were associated with more skepticism, and negative aspects of awe (oppression/isolation, disorientation) with less skepticism. In terms of aesthetic thinking, diminished-self perceptions were associated being able describe observed roles and actions, and chills were associated with being able to describe personal opinions. These results support the assertion that awe can be used to encourage engagement and learning in informal science settings.

scholarly journals Needs and expectations of teachers about the Science Museum of Castilla-La Mancha

2007 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. A01
Author(s):  
Santiago Langreo
Keyword(s):  
Science Museum ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
Successful Teachers ◽  
The Core ◽  
The People ◽  
La Mancha ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Teaching Learning

After serving the community for seven years, the Science Museum of Castilla-La Mancha (MCCM) has decided to renew itself. In this context, a survey of the needs and expectations of the people to which the museum is dedicated plays a major role for the changes planned to prove successful. Teachers are among the main users of the museum, staying at the core of all teaching-learning processes, and play a role as mediators between science and students. This paper analyses the judgements made by teachers about various types of events and teaching resources which are normally provided by science museums and, more specifically, the Science Museum of Castilla-La Mancha. Against that backdrop, science (our content), education (our objective) and the democratic participation of teachers will show a clear route to follow if one wants to achieve quality for our institution and its future events.

scholarly journals Design principles as a bridge between contexts: From innovation in the science museum to transformation in formal education

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon N. Leonard ◽  
Robert N. Fitzgerald ◽  
Stuart Kohlhagen ◽  
Mark W. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Educational Innovation ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Discussion Article ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Bridge Building ◽  
Evidence Of Impact

This paper responds to Euler's consideration of the use of design principles to bridge between knowledge production and practice design in the first issue of this journal; and particularly to the question he left open on how design principles should be formulated more concretely. It does so by extending the discussion of the use of Sandoval's approach of 'conjecture mapping'. In this discussion article, we reflect upon our own efforts at a related form of 'bridge building', specifically on work to span the gap in practice designs between the contexts of science museums and more formal education settings. Museums offer opportunities for educational innovation. The evidence of impact of such innovation on the more formal le- arning environments, however, has been limited. Teachers in formal settings, it appears, tend to adopt individual exemplar activities, but do not transfer the innovative approaches to their wider practice. The ambition of the project we examine here was to design teacher professional learning activities that allow participants to move beyond a focus on the specifications of a specific innovation and instead appreciate - to make concrete - the design principles in use. We will argue that conjecture mapping has been useful making design principles concrete but, in doing so, will point to the need for further research 

Investigating aspects of data visualization literacy using 20 information visualizations and 273 science museum visitors

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy Börner ◽  
Adam Maltese ◽  
Russell Nelson Balliet ◽  
Joe Heimlich
Keyword(s):  
Data Visualization ◽  
Informal Education ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Museum Visitors ◽  
Hard Time ◽  
Phase Study ◽  
The Media ◽  
Multi Phase ◽  
Information Visualizations

In the information age, a person’s ability to read and make data visualizations is nearly as important as being able to read and write text. This article reports the results of a multi-phase study conducted in informal learning environments in three US science museums. The goal of the study was to determine the familiarity of youth and adult museum visitors with different visualization types. To address this, a total of 273 visitors were shown 5 out of 20 different visualizations that included two charts, five maps, eight graphs, and five network layouts. They were asked to judge the familiarity of the visualization, provide information on how to read it, and provide a name and identify typical locations where they would encounter the data display and possible data sources that might be visualized in this way. The results show that while most participants have a strong interest in science, math, and art, many have a hard time naming and interpreting visualizations. Participants in this study commonly encounter visualizations in school, in books, at work, on the Internet, and in the news. Overall, they were more familiar with basic charts, maps, and graphs, but very few are familiar with network layouts and most have no ability in reading network visualizations. When asked how they would interpret the visualizations, most participants pointed to superficial features such as color, lines, or text as important to developing understanding. Overall, we found that participants were interested in the visualizations we presented to them, but had significant limitations in identifying and understanding them. The results substantiate intuitions shared by many regarding the rather low level of data visualization literacy of general audiences. We hope they will help catalyze novel research on the development of easy-to-use yet effective visualizations with standardized names and guaranteed properties that can be readily used by those interested to understand and solve real-world problems. The results also have implications for how information visualizations are taught and used in formal and informal education, the media, or in different professions.

scholarly journals Valoración de los docentes de la presencia de los museos de ciencias en Internet

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Robles-Moral ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Educational Tools ◽  
The Relationship

Science museums are conducive places for the development of teaching and learning,through the participation of visitors in the activities and exhibitions offered by these centers. But,the experience in these centers does not end or begin with the physical visit, but there is acontinuation of the experience through the Internet, either through web pages or social networks.This work has focused on analyzing the assessment made by teachers of the presence of Spanishscience museums on the Internet, from the perspective of education. It has been possible to verifywhich are the channels used by the different science museums on the net, as well as which are thedidactic resources offered by these centers. The websites and social media profiles of 37 sciencemuseums were analyzed and 519 professors were asked about their assessment of the Internetpresence of science museum centers. Allowing to establish that the relationship between sciencemuseums and their presence on the Internet, for teachers, has a marked educational character,based on the availability of educational tools

scholarly journals STEAM Project-Based Learning Activities at the Science Museum as an Effective Training for Future Chemistry Teachers

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Valentina Domenici
Keyword(s):  
Science Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Formal Context ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Chemistry Teachers ◽  
Teachers Training

Non-formal learning environments, such as science museums, have a fundamental role in science education and high potentialities as ideal contexts for science teachers’ training. These aspects have been analyzed and reported in several recent works mainly focused on students’ perception of science and increased engagement towards scientific disciplines. In this work, a project-based learning methodology optimized and experimented in the frame of a pre-service chemistry teachers’ course at the University of Pisa (Italy), during the last eight years, involving in total 171 participants, is presented. This educational project has several distinctive features related to the STEAM philosophy, with a high level of multi-disciplinarity and creativity. Most of the laboratories and chemistry-centered activities were conceived, planned and carried out by the future chemistry teachers in non-formal contexts, such as science museums. A case study based on a series of non-formal laboratories designed by a group of students during their training in the academic year 2018–2019 and performed in a science museum is reported and examined in details. In this paper, all steps of the STEAM project-based learning methodology are described underlining the main learning outcomes and cognitive levels involved in each step and the relevant methodologies proposed during the training course and adopted in the project. The effectiveness of this pre-service teachers’ training methodology is finally discussed in terms of participants’ motivation and interest towards the course’s content, students’ final judgment of their training experiences and, in particular, of the STEAM project-based learning activities. From the students’ feedbacks and final assessment, the role of the non-formal context in teaching and learning chemistry and the efficacy of developing educational activities related to current and real-life chemistry-centered topics emerged as very positive aspects of the proposed approach.

Cultivating data visualization literacy in museums

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie Peppler ◽  
Anna Keune ◽  
Ariel Han
Keyword(s):  
Data Visualization ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Museum Exhibits ◽  
Single Data ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to explore what design aspects can support data visualization literacy within science museums. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative study thematically analyzes video data of 11 visitor groups as they engage with reading and writing of data visualization through a science museum exhibition that features real-time and uncurated data. Findings Findings present how the design aspects of the exhibit led to identifying single data records, data patterns, mismeasurements and distribution rate. Research limitations/implications The findings preface how to study data visualization literacy learning in short museum interactions. Practical implications Practically, the findings point toward design implications for facilitating data visualization literacy in museum exhibits. Originality/value The originality of the study lays in the way the exhibit supports engagement with data visualization literacy with uncurated data records.

Personalization Issues for Science Museum Web Sites and E-Learning

2008 ◽  
pp. 371-387
Author(s):  
Silvia Filippini-Fantoni ◽  
Jonathan P. Bowan ◽  
Teresa Numerico
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
The Future ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Do So

E-learning has the potential to be a very personalized experience and can be tailored to the individual involved. So far, science museums have yet to tap into this potential to any great extent, partly due to the relative newness of the technology involved and partly due to the expense. This chapter covers some of the speculative efforts that may improve the situation for the future, including the SAGRES project and the Ingenious Web site, among other examples. It is hoped that this will be helpful to science museums and centers that are considering the addition of personalization features to their own Web site. Currently, Web site personalization should be used with caution, but larger organizations should be considering the potential if they have not already started to do so.

scholarly journals Comic Strips to Accompany Science Museum Exhibits

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beom Sun Chung ◽  
Eun-mi Park ◽  
Sang-Hee Kim ◽  
Sook-kyoung Cho ◽  
Min Suk Chung
Keyword(s):  
Science Museum ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Comic Strips ◽  
Museum Exhibits ◽  
Museum Visitors ◽  
Science Exhibitions ◽  
The Individual

<p>Science museums make the effort to create exhibits with amusing explanations. However, existing explanation signs with lengthy text are not appealing, and as such, visitors do not pay attention to them. In contrast, conspicuous comic strips composed of simple drawings and humors can attract science museum visitors. This study attempted to reveal whether comic strips contribute to science exhibitions. More than 20 comic strips were chosen that were associated with exhibits in a science museum. The individual episodes were printed out and placed beside the corresponding exhibits. A questionnaire was administered to museum visitors to evaluate the effects of the comic strips. Most visitors responded that the comic strips were helpful in understanding the exhibits and in familiarizing themselves with the science. Participants also described the comic strips’ deficiencies which will be considered for future revisions. Comic strips are likely to enhance interest in and comprehension of science exhibitions. Furthermore, these strips are expected to enrich science museums in various ways such as establishing their uniqueness.</p>

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