In this study, detailed observations and interviews from a high school student's semester-long cooperative (co-op) placement in a dental practice are used to exemplify Hung's theoretical approach to understanding situated learning. Using Hung's theory of epistemological appropriation in an analysis of the co-op supervisor's regulatory behaviors (scaffolding, modeling, and coaching) and of the novice's corresponding regulatory behaviors (submitting, mirroring, and constructing) helped to explain the developments in this student's learning, actions, and beliefs. In contrast to the progression
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Peter ChinKarin Steiner BellHugh MunbyNancy Hutchinson
This article describes Youth as Resources, a nationwide initiative involves youth and adults as equal partners in projects that improve community life. Some examples of the projects include the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, which engages teenagers to install solar heating in low income homes, and the Haydenville Preservation Committee, which implemented neighborhood cleanup and landscaping projects in rural Ohio.
This paper describes findings from a Ph.D. study of visitors, particularly non-museum visitors, at two university art museums in Hong Kong. This study contributes to the literature on museum education in Hong Kong, which is a relatively new area of study in Asia. This study is also the first museum visitor survey done on a university population in Hong Kong. It includes the questionnaire mailed to participants in the study.
This project was an early example of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) and was produced for the 2004 BLD Studios art exhibition, Time Machines, in Columbus, OH. This project included a chair and a desk made of drawers, on top of which was a audio/video work station where visitors sat and interacted with the technology by using the headphones and listening to one tape deck for instructions and then listening to music on the other while watching the TV screen with special HyperSpeks(tm). There was also a panel of photos above the TV designed to simulate time travel. The instructions explained the purpose of the exhibit and how to use the TV to tune into various channels to pick-up a variety of video static on empty UHF frequencies. The music was designed to put the visitor into a certain frame of mind. It was futuristic sounding and created using DEMI sampling, a proprietary sampling technique also created by Marshall Barnes. The intent was to set the mood. Training Session was supposed to simulate training prospective transdimensional travelers in the cognitive exercises required to deal with the psychological rigors of time/parallel universe travel. The HyperSpeks(tm) allowed the visitors to search for various shapes in the TV static on a number of selcted channels which would resemble such cosmological constructs as black holes and wormholes. The static was live and not prerecorded and so the interaction on all levels was live and in real time. Visitors were to write their observations down on paper which was provided via a note pad and pen at the exhibit. In this way, a record of their experiences existed for subsequent visitors to review. The visitors were also told to view the photo panel, which consisted of pictures taken in 1977, but not developed until 2004. As a result, the pictures were somewhat faded and all tinted pink, however, when the visitors viewed them with the HyperSpeks(tm) they appeared not only normal color, but almost as if the scenes they depicted were views outside a window. Thus, the visitor was able to travel optically back in time and see the images the way they looked when they were originally photographed.
The California Academy of Sciences will develop, evaluate and disseminate exhibits and programs designed to communicate to public audiences the results of research including a biotic inventory of the amphibians and reptiles of Myanmar. Using innovative trading cards for kids, updates to current research exhibits, a poster highlighting research, a pocket guide to venomous snakes of Myanmar and a posting of research -related materials on the CAS website, the project will inform the public about biotic inventory research and conservation in Myanmar. Designed specifically for target audiences of children and adults, the exhibits and programs will serve several hundred thousand CAS visitors annually.
The Materials Research Society (MRS) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate a traveling exhibition developed by the Ontario Science Center, funded by the National Science Foundation. The evaluation documents the impact and effectiveness of the traveling exhibition and its associated Web site using timing and tracking observations, exit interviews, peer review, and telephone interviews with Web site users and non-users a few weeks after their visit to the exhibition. How did we approach this study? worked with MRS to identify its goals and objectives for the exhibition
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Materials Research Society
Gardeners visit this site and report what varieties perform well - and not so well - in their gardens. Other gardeners visit to view the variety ratings and read the reviews to decide which might work well for them. The VVfG citizen science project also provides an opportunity for researchers to involve knowledgeable, motivated citizens in meaningful scientific research. Research on the performance of vegetable varieties is often limited to commercial production in part, because visiting thousands of home gardens to collect data would be an overwhelming task.
This study was commissioned to provide systematic feedback regarding visitor experience of the Low-Carb Craze exhibits (about nutrition and dieting) in Current Science Central. The principal issues to be investigated were about the interpretive experience: are visitors getting the idea that this is about current science information?; do visitors perceive the information to be recent?; are they learning any new information or not? To address these issues, an evaluation strategy was developed that focused on people's perceptions of the content and reactions to the activities; specifically
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Jeff HaywardScience Museum of MinnesotaJolene Hart
Nanoscale science and engineering study and create materials and devices on the molecular scale. The Nanobiotechnology Center, a National Science Foundation supported Science and Technology Center, collaborated with Ithaca, New York's Sciencenter, a hands-on museum, and Painted Universe, Inc. an exhibition design-and-fabrication team, to create It's a NanoWorld, a 3,000 square-foot, hands-on traveling exhibition. Edu, Inc., an external evaluation group, led front-end research and formative evaluation to guide and refine development of the exhibition. Summative evaluation investigated visitors'
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Douglas SpencerCornell UniversityVictoria AngelottiSciencenter
The Science Museum of Minnesota will develop "Investigations in Cell Biology," an integrated program that introduces cell, microbiology, and molecular biology to museum audiences through open-access, wet-lab, micro-experiment benches; training and support for school teachers; classes for adults and teens; and a long-term program for local high school youth. The project includes the development, testing, and installation of four micro-experiment benches that introduce visitors to the objectives, tools, and techniques of cell biology experimentation. These benches,"Inside the Cell," "Testing for DNA," "DNA Profile," and "Microbe Control," will be part of "Cell Lab," a 1,500 square-foot open experiment area within the science museum's new core exhibition, "The Human Body," opening December 1999.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Laurie Kleinbaum FinkSusan FlemingJ Newlin
After-School Program Exploring Science (APEX) proposes to develop and implement a training model that will enhance the capacity of community-based after-school programs to provide science-learning opportunities for children ages 5-10. Capacity building will center on expanding the human resource base as well as access to hands-on resources that enable investigative science in informal settings. " APEX" will create a series of engaging hands-on science investigations that will be designed for replication in a wide range of informal learning environments. "APEX" community partners include the YMCA, YWCA and Family Christian Association of America (FCAA). The Miami Museum of Science will also partner with Miami-Dade Public Schools, Florida International University and Miami-Dade College to formalize opportunities for paraprofessionals and pre-service teachers to meet a portion of their certification requirements by leading "APEX" Science investigations in after-school programs thereby providing community-based after-school programs with a more stable workforce while at the same time supporting future teachers in the development of inquiry-based teaching skills. Through "APEX" over 275 after-school provider staff will be trained along with up to 300 pre-service teachers and paraprofessionals. The project will work with 93 after-school programs and impact roughly 7,000 high-need students.