As several recent National Academies of Sciences reports have highlighted, greater science communication research is needed on 1) communicating chemistry, and 2) building research-practice partnerships to advance communication across science issues. Here we report our insights in both areas, gathered from a multi-year collaboration to advance our understanding of how to communicate about chemistry with the public. Researchers and practitioners from science museums across the U.S. partnered with academic social scientists in science communication to develop and conduct multi-strand data
Chemistry is a vital and highly relevant field of science that is under-represented in science centers and museums. Amidst concerns that the public is ambivalent about the chemistry field, the Explore Science: Let's Do Chemistry project sought to understand how to design hands-on activities that could increase the feelings of interest, relevance, and self-efficacy around chemistry. Using design-based research, the team tested and refined a variety of activities while simultaneously creating a framework for future use about content and format strategies that increase interest, relevance, and
This study was designed to explore the chemistry outreach practices of college students associated with the American Chemical Society (ACS) and Alpha Chi Sigma (ΑΧΣ). Students affiliated with these organizations are heavily involved with the chemistry-specific informal science education practice of chemistry outreach. Despite reporting that they reach almost 1 million people every year through outreach, little is known about their outreach practices. Two investigations were conducted to address the gap in understanding of college students conducting outreach. The first investigation involved
Chemistry-specific informal science education (chemistry outreach) is widely practiced across all levels of the chemistry community. College students associated with American Chemical Society and Alpha Chi Sigma collegiate chapters are one population of chemistry outreach practitioners who reach upward of 1 million people every year. Previous studies of this population have characterized their goals/purposes for conducting outreach, their understanding of the chemistry content underlying common demonstrations/activities, as well as their teaching and learning beliefs that they bring to their
College students associated with the American Chemical Society and Alpha Chi Sigma student/collegiate chapters reach almost 1 million people every year through their informal chemistry education events (chemistry outreach). Previous work has characterized their goals for chemistry outreach, with the most prevalent goal being audience learning. With such large audiences being impacted every year and the goal of audience learning, investigating how these college students approach teaching in informal environments is needed to further understand chemistry outreach practices. This paper presents
Informal chemistry education/chemistry outreach is ubiquitous with the chemical enterprise. However, little research has focused on the planning, implementation, or evaluation of these events. Results from a previous study suggest that college students involved with collegiate chapters of the American Chemical Society and Alpha Chi Sigma are heavily involved with chemistry outreach, and their most frequently discussed purpose is to teach chemistry content to their audiences. Given this goal, it is timely to investigate how well these college students, who are acting as teachers in outreach
This article offers findings from a learning sciences-informed evaluation of a nanoscience and nanotechnology exhibition called Nano-Aventura (NanoAdventure), based on four interactive-collaborative games and two narrated videos. This traveling exhibition was developed in Brazil by the Museu Exploratório de Ciências for children and teenagers (ages 9 to 14), but it was also open to the general public. We report findings from a mixed-methods study incorporating questionnaires completed by visiting school children (n=814) and the general public (n=338) and interviews with school visitors (n=23)
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Museu Exploratorio de CienciasSandra MurrielloMarcelo Knobel
resourceresearchMuseum and Science Center Programs
Front-line educators are arguably critical to the visitor experience at museums and science centers across the country. However, little research exists to inform staff facilitation strategies or professional development efforts. In this article, we describe the results of a qualitative study of 63 staff family interactions in a science center, focusing particularly on the role of adult family members. We observed three distinct phases of interaction, during which adult family members acted as gatekeepers to deeper staff engagement. The results suggest that in order to successfully facilitate
This article describes models used in Fusion Science Theater to engage children in learning about science. It draws parallels between scientific investigation and theatrical performance that reveal common underlying principles. The article also reports on the show's development, form, content, evaluation, and impact.
This paper discusses the meaning of conceptual frameworks and the problems that arise when exhibit developers and visitors use different conceptual frameworks to interpret exhibits. The authors draw on experience and evaluation findings from a recent project developing an interactive traveling exhibit about chemistry.
Understanding a community's concerns and informational needs is crucial to conducting and improving environmental health research and literacy initiatives. We hypothesized that analysis of community inquiries over time at a legacy mining site would be an effective method for assessing environmental health literacy efforts and determining whether community concerns were thoroughly addressed. Through a qualitative analysis, we determined community concerns at the time of being listed as a Superfund site. We analyzed how community concerns changed from this starting point over the subsequent