Although cooperative, interorganizational networks have become a common mechanism for delivery of public services, evaluating their effectiveness is extremely complex and has generally been neglected. To help resolve this problem, we discuss the evaluation of networks of community-based, mostly publicly funded health, human service, and public welfare organizations. Consistent with pressures to perform effectively from a broad range of key stakeholders, we argue that networks must be evaluated at three levels of analysis: community, network, and organization/participant levels. While the three
This article describes a partnership between Seton Hall University and the Liberty Science Center to engage preservice teachers in teaching and learning science. The partnership program offered preservice teachers the opportunity to interact with displays and demonstrations, teach and interact with the public, participate in professional development activities, and communicate with diverse groups.
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Debra ZinicolaRoberta Devlin-Scherer
This interpretive study of learning environments involved two groups of Israeli science teachers who participated in courses and implemented field trips as part of science‐technology‐society (STS) education and under the framework of general system theory. The different groups of preservice and experienced teachers were selected in order to provide diverse perspectives on learning environments associated with the enactment of field trips as enrichment for the science classroom. The article describes the field trip programs and provides examples of how teachers in different stages of their
This article takes an anti-essentialist approach to the gendered construction of the science curriculum and its exclusivity. Drawing on post-structuralist theory, it examines the student subject positions that are generated within the dominant discourses and practices of curriculum science. A critical discourse analysis of student interview talk demonstrates the importance of both gender and ethnicity in the production of, or rejection of, scientist identities. While hegemonic masculinity can provide comfortable scientist identities for some males, femininity is less compatible with physical
Two important content areas associated with informal environmental science programs are ecology/natural science topics and awareness of environmental problems/issues. This study attempted to evaluate which of these content areas may provide a more optimum learning experience. A quantitative analysis was conducted on two field trips to a science center that represented an ecological oriented program and an environmental issue presentation. Two variables that were chosen as indicators of program success—knowledge retention and attitude change—are outcomes that have been found prevalent in
There has been little work done on the early experiences of children looking at plant exhibits in botanical gardens. This project, a parallel study to one carried out in zoos, sought to establish what the groups talked about and whether there were differences in content when adults were present and between single sex and mixed groups. The conversations were collected during primary school visits to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, England, whilst the groups looked at plant specimens. Transcripts of the conversations were analysed using a systemic network. The results show that children talked
Classroom tasks should develop a spirit of inquiry and a sense of delight in discovery that will become part of the individual's learning style. Yet in the traditional elementary classroom, the use of worksheets, lectures and basal reading tasks to the exclusion of hands-on, participatory opportunities fails to encourage a child's construction of knowledge. By setting up a problem to be solved, demanding interaction, producing effects from direct actions and allowing variations of approach, cognitive development in children is enhanced. Hands-On Children's Museums encourage contextually
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Kathryn Speaker
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Although cooperative, interorganizational networks have become a common mechanism for delivery of public services, evaluating their effectiveness is extremely complex and has generally been neglected. To help resolve this problem, we discuss the evaluation of networks of community-based, mostly publicly funded health, human service, and public welfare organizations. Consistent with pressures to perform effectively from a broad range of key stakeholders, we argue that networks must be evaluated at three levels of analysis: community, network, and organization/participant levels. While the three