In this study, we develop a model of science identity to make sense of the science experiences of 15 successful women of color over the course of their undergraduate and graduate studies in science and into science-related careers. In our view, science identity accounts both for how women make meaning of science experiences and how society structures possible meanings. Primary data included ethnographic interviews during students‘ undergraduate careers, follow-up interviews 6 years later, and ongoing member-checking. Our results highlight the importance of recognition by others for women in
Parent-child 'everyday' conversations have been suggested as a source of children's early science learning (Ash, 2003; Callanan & Jipson, 2001). If such conversations are important then it would be pertinent to know whether children from different family backgrounds have different experiences talking about science in informal settings. We focus on the relation between parents' schooling and both their explanatory talk in science-related activities, and the styles of interaction they use with their children. Families from different schooling backgrounds within one underrepresented group in
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Deborah SiegelJennifer EsterlyMaureen CallananRamser Wright
In this study our goal is to conduct a "connective ethnography" that focuses on how gaming expertise spreads across a network of youth at an after-school club that simultaneously participates in a multi-player virtual environment (MUVE). We draw on multiple sources of information: observations, interviews, video recordings, online tracking and chat data, and hundreds of hours of play in the virtual environment of Whyville ourselves. By focusing on one particular type of insider knowledge, called teleporting, we traced youth learning in a variety of online and offlien social contexts, both from
Sustainability will be the great challenge for many cultural institutions in the first quarter of the 21st Century. Changing patterns of government, corporate, and individual support, new demographics, and new ways of creating, preserving, and sharing information are all challenging the sustainability of museums and other cultural institutions. In 2001 a meeting of science museum leaders in Bristol identified 3 distinct but interacting dimensions to sustainability: financial, intellectual, and social. Financial crises are the most obvious threats to the survival of institutions, but
Interviews conducted during the summer of 2006 with people in and around the international museum community suggest that the interests natural history museums share in common with each other and with other kinds of organizations and communities are creating an array of new links across institutional, social and cultural boundaries. These links are active, complex, networked relationships directed toward common purposes. Museums that are taking advantage of this emerging environment are becoming “hyperconnected hubs” across which knowledge is exchanged and action initiated. In forging a
Principal involvement is a critical component of schoolbased afterschool programming. A logic model of six potential roles principals can play in afterschool programs offers a basis for consensus between principals and afterschool coordinators on this vital issue.
The study aims to characterize contextual learning during class visits to science and natural history museums. Based on previous studies, we assumed that “outdoor” learning is different from classroom-based learning, and free choice learning in the museums enhances the expression of learning in personal context. We studied about 750 students participating in class visits at four museums, focusing on the levels of choice provided through the activity. The museums were of different sizes, locations, visitor number, and foci. A descriptive-interpretative approach was adopted, with data sources
This article overviews a study in which 31 mother-child pairs were observed in two different museum settings--traditional exhibits and family-oriented exhibits--and the mothers' behavior was recorded. Experimenters reported that mothers used higher-level verbal teaching to children in the traditional setting than in the child- or family-oriented setting.
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California State University, Los AngelesLeah Melber
In this article, Mary Jane Taylor, Interim Director of Public Programs at Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, shares the Request for Proposal process associated with the "Made in China: Export Porcelain from the Leo and Doris Hodroff Collection at Winterthur" exhibition and the associated "Design your own plate" interactive. Evaluation results and RFP are included in this article.