To address the challenges of recruiting, training, impacting, and retaining scientists in informal outreach and to capitalize on access to the public through a local science center, Washington University and the St. Louis Science Center (SLSC; http://www.slsc.org) collaborated to create a program that combines informal science communication and the professional development of graduate students. The program sought to produce scientists who were trained to be effective informal educators. Workshops developed and led by SLSC staff, followed by personalized coaching, covered essential science
In a sustainable world, human needs would be met without chronic harm to the environment and without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Addressing the grand challenge of sustainability, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has developed a coordinated research and education framework, called the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) portfolio (http://www.nsf.gov/sees). The growing family of SEES activities, currently consisting of 11 programs, represents a major interdisciplinary investment by NSF that reflects the following topical
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Tim KilleenBen Van Der PluumMarge Cavanaugh
Danish agriculture and seed science have a history of successful collaboration spanning more than a hundred years. In this study, we interviewed 26 growers, consultants, and scientists from the Danish seed community focusing on their current knowledge status and on their views on improving scientific knowledge communication. Theoretically, we consider these actors participants in different communities of practice relating to the production of seeds (Seed-CoP), and we conclude that strong network collaboration is present among Danish seed-CoP effectuated by the valuable work undertaken by the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Svend Tveden-NyborgMorten MisfeldtBirte Boelt
Science communication processes are complex and uncertain. Designing and managing these processes using a step-by-step approach, allows those with science communication responsibility to manoeuvre between moral or normative issues, practical experiences, empirical data and theoretical foundations. The tool described in this study is an evidence-based questionnaire, tested in practice for feasibility. The key element of this decision aid is a challenge to the science communication practitioners to reflect on their attitudes, knowledge, reasoning and decision-making in a step-by-step manner to
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Maarten C.A. van der SandenFrans J. Meijman
Operation Magpie was a citizen science project that involved the community in collecting data about magpies. This article describes one aspect of the project from an education perspective. The study began with a collaboration of teacher educators, environmental scientists and a local radio station. After an initial workshop with 75 teachers, three teacher educators met regularly with 13 primary teachers who each volunteered to plan and teach a unit of work on birds. Meeting regularly in focus groups, the teachers shared their pedagogical strategies that supported students to connect with their
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Yvonne ZeegersKathryn PaigeDavid LloydPhilip Roetman
When it comes to STEM education, the nation’s K–12 public schools cannot do it all. The nature of 21st century proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is too complex for any single institution. The good news is that schools do not have to do it alone. Museums, zoos, nature centers, aquariums, and planetariums are among the several thousand informal science institutions in the United States that regularly engage young people in observing, learning, and using STEM knowledge and skills. Providing a richness of resources unavailable in any classroom, informal science
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Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE)
Supervising youth workers is a challenging, demanding job in a complex field. Too frequently youth workers get mired in reacting to the everyday crises that dominate their work, finding it difficult to rise above the daily demands to reach a place where reflection can help guide their work. Strategies based in action research can empower youth work supervisors to invest in their own growth and in the continuous improvement of their programs.
Exemplary career programming overcomes the obstacles to engaging older youth and shows them how to find the "next rung on the ladder." This article draws from several disciplines to integrate what is and is not known about engaging youth in career programming during out-of-school time.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kathryn HynesKaylin GreeneNicole Constance
A survey of out-of-school time administrators and staff shows that professional development can influence providers' willingness and ability to include children with special needs in their programs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jane SharpElizabeth RodasAlan Savodnik
Our study looks at how participation in a continuous quality improvement initiative produces higher-quality practice in Rhode Island’s afterschool community by fostering change in program management practices. Among other findings, we discovered that quality improvement begins with program managers, who then lead the process of change.
This paper introduces a model for using informal science education venues as contexts within which to teach the nature of science. The model was initially developed to enable university education students to teach science in elementary schools so as to be consistent with National Science Education Standards (NSES) (1996) and A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas (2011). The model has since been used in other university courses and professional development workshops for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers. Learners experience the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barbara SpectorRuth BurkettCyndy Leard
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Given the rapid changes that 21st century museums must manage, flexible thinking about leadership forms and purposes is needed. Today's complex leadership landscape necessitates that staff engage in enacting leadership with positional leaders. Limited empirical literature exists that describes how the next generation of museum leaders is being nurtured and developed. The purpose of this study was to: describe museum professionals' perceptions of leadership practices; investigate museums as sites of organizational and leadership learning; and consider the experiences of museum professionals who