Posts Tagged ‘education’
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
by Linda Duke
Abstract
Museums offer visitors direct experiences—such as visual experiences—that are not available elsewhere in daily life. Learning through verbal information is part of it, yet the aesthetic experience is always outside of the “right-answer paradigm.” Cognitive development occurs when perceptions inform thinking, thoughts are expressed in language, and expressed thoughts invite reconsideration of the material at hand. Both science and art require the development of these skills. Science and art museum educators can and should advocate the value of looking, thinking, wondering about complexity, and discussing the results.
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- Linda Duke (LDuke@imamuseum.org) is director of education at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Copyright © 2010 The California Academy of Sciences
DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00028.x About DOI
Tags: cognitive development, education, educators, experience, Linda Duke, museum, museum visit
Posted in 53:3, Forum, museum visit | No Comments »
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
by Beverly Sheppard
Abstract
The publication of Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits has garnered well-deserved attention from the whole museum profession. It has become a point of discussion and debate, as well as a new tool for museum leadership and advocacy. Thinking of it only as a landmark report for science-based museums, however, would be a mistake and a lost opportunity. This report has important content for cross-disciplinary impact. It offers the gift of new language and thoughtful frameworks through which we can tell our individual stories more compellingly while supporting a shared definition of museums as valid places of learning. It gives fresh substance to the role of museums as effective learning resources.
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- Beverly Sheppard (sheppard@ilinet.org) is president and CEO of the Institute for Learning Innovation.
Copyright © 2010 The California Academy of Sciences
DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00027.x About DOI
Tags: Beverly Sheppard, education, learning, Learning Science in Informal Environments
Posted in 53:3, Forum, Uncategorized, learning | No Comments »
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
by Jessica J. Luke, Karen Knutson
Abstract
The Learning Science in Informal Environments report holds great potential for creating change among those who work in the field of science education. But to what extent can it inform other sectors of the informal education world? This article explores how the LSIE report might influence research and practice in art museums. By comparing the report to a recent study in art education, the authors point out areas of overlap and divergence relative to content and skills, identity, and communities of practice. We suggest several implications for how art museums and science museums might learn from one another. A call to action is made for further research and discussion about common learning goals and outcomes for the art museum experience.
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- Jessica J. Luke (luke@ilinet.org) is director of Research and Evaluation at the Institute for Learning Innovation, Edgewater, MD.
- Karen Knutson (knutson@pitt.edu) is associate director, University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE), Pittsburgh, PA.
Tags: art, education, Environments, informal, Institute for Learning Innovation, Jessica Luke, Karen Knutson, LSIE, museum, report, research, school, science, University of Pittsburgh Center, UPCLOSE
Posted in 53:2, articles, learning, research, theory & practice | No Comments »
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
by Vera Michalchik and Lawrence Gallagher
Abstract
Researchers and practitioners concerned with STEM learning (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) occurring outside the institutional boundaries of schools recognize the need for assessment approaches that accommodate the characteristics of informal learning. These approaches, to be viable, must align with the activities, goals, roles, and outcomes we find in informal settings. A plausible starting point is in making use of naturalistic assessments—people’s own on-going, developing awareness of who can do what under which circumstances. People regularly and informally assess one another to shape and support learning activities, goals, and outcomes. This article seeks to make a case for developing a new research program for assessing learning outcomes by capitalizing on people’s everyday attunements, which are already in place, and by getting more value out of the cultural apparatus that exists for recognizing one another’s capabilities.
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- Vera Michalchik (vera.michalchik@sri.com) is a Senior Social Scientist at SRI International in Menlo Park, California.
- Lawrence Gallagher (lawrence.gallagher@sri.com) is a Research Social Scientist at SRI International in Menlo Park, California.
Tags: assessment, education, evaluation, informal, Lawrence Gallagher, learning, Menlo Park, schools, SRI, STEM, Vera Michalchik
Posted in 53:2, articles, learning, research, theory & practice | No Comments »
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
by Jon D. Miller
Abstract
This article outlines a different view of the changing nature of adult learning in the Internet era. The old model of learning—the warehouse—is being replaced by a “just-in-time” system of information acquisition. The NRC report focuses too heavily on finding missions for existing institutions and pays too little attention to the pervasive changes in information acquisition and adult learning in all areas. An analysis of existing data demonstrates the relative impact of formal and informal learning and points to opportunities for enhanced adult science learning in the future. In a just-in-time world, museums and similar informal learning institutions will need to be less dependent on their physical setting and more focused on learning as the end product. It will also be necessary to find a viable revenue model to support this emerging mission.
Note: The bound copy of this issue of Curator: The Museum Journal contains an error. Figure 3 is incorrect; the correct figure is below:

Figure 3: Museum Visits by Adults, 1982-2007.
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- Jon D. Miller (jdmiller@msu.edu) is the John A. Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies and director of the International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy, Michigan State University.
Tags: Adult, digital, education, Jon Miller, learning, Michigan State University, NRC, report, science
Posted in 53:2, articles, learning, research, theory & practice | No Comments »
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
by James Kisiel, David Anderson
Abstract
The National Research Council report Learning Science in Informal Environments provides a much-needed synthesis of what research says about informal learning. LSIE makes key observations about science learning and emphasizes the challenges faced in trying to understand and document those complex processes. Yet assumptions about how—and under what conditions—people learn science are not necessarily universal constructs. Such assumptions are driven by the theoretical perspectives of the researchers, as well as the culture of the learners themselves. The limited scope of the volume prohibits it from fully addressing such cultural and historical contexts, and the subsequent implications for methodological approaches. Nevertheless, the report is an important starting point for informing educators, researchers, and policy-makers who work with or within informal science institutions.
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- James Kisiel (jkisiel@csulb. edu) is associate professor in the Department of Science Education, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840.
- David Anderson (david.anderson@ubc.ca) is associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, Canada.
Tags: California State University, David Anderson, education, Environments, informal, James Kisiel, learning, LSIE, report, research, science, University of British Columbia
Posted in 53:2, articles, learning, research, theory & practice | No Comments »
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
by Andrew Shouse, Bruce V. Lewenstein, Michael Feder, Philip Bell
Abstract
In this article, the editors of the recent National Research Council report Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits discuss the report’s implications for museum professionals. The report is a synthesis of some 2,000 studies and evaluations of learning in non-school settings such as museums. Here we focus on three specific topics discussed in the full report, which we see as particularly important for museum professionals. These are: a framework for developing and studying science learning experiences; cultural diversity as an integral resource for learning; and assessment of learning. Many museums include “learning” among their goals and many researchers concern themselves with how museums and other settings can be organized to support learning. Yet this wealth of research is rarely brought into focus and offered as guidance to the museum community.
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- Andrew Shouse (awshouse@uw.edu) is associate director of the Institute for Science and Mathematics Education and visiting assistant professor of Educational Psychology, University of Washington.
- Bruce V. Lewenstein (b.lewenstein@cornell.edu) is professor of science communication, Cornell University.
- Michael Feder (mfeder@nas.edu) is a senior program officer with the Board on Science Education, National Research Council.
- Philip Bell (pbell@uw.edu) is director of the Institute for Science and Mathematics Education and associate professor of the Learning Sciences, University of Washington, 1100 NE 45th Street, Suite 200, Seattle, WA, 98105.
Tags: Andrew Shouse, assessment, Bruce V. Lewenstein, cultural diversity, education, evaluation, informal, learning, Michael Feder, museum, National Research Council, Philip Bell, report, science
Posted in 53:2, articles, learning, research, theory & practice | 1 Comment »
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
by David A. Ucko
Abstract
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the National Research Council report Learning Science in Informal Environments to synthesize the growing body of diverse research underlying informal science learning. Intended outcomes were to establish a base for future research, to provide evidence-based guidance for those developing and delivering informal learning experiences, to broaden the definition of “learning” beyond that typically used in formal education, to encourage knowledge sharing across the heterogeneous informal science education field, and to provide a measure of external validation for the value of learning in informal settings. NSF investment in this study is part of a larger ongoing effort by the Informal Science Education program to advance knowledge and practice and build capacity in the field.
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- David A. Ucko (ducko@nsf.gov) is division director (acting) of the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings, Directorate for Education and Human Resources, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230.
Tags: David Ucko, education, Environments, informal, knowledge, learning, National Science Foundation, NSF, practice, report, science
Posted in 53:2, articles, learning, research, theory & practice | No Comments »
Friday, February 5th, 2010
by Elaine Heumann Gurian
In this paper, I suggest that museums have not explored their potential opportunities enough when dealing with their communities under stressful conditions. Each reader, however, should decide when what I am talking about is no longer appropriate for museums in general or your museum in particular. While some museums have moved more in the direction of serving their communities, I am struck by how little philosophical change has actually taken place in most museums after a year into this universal economic downturn. I argue that incorporating a broader palette of social services may make institutions more useful, but at some point these institutions might cease to be traditional museums. My question would be: ‘‘Should you care?’’ I do not suggest that all museums become full-service community centers, though somemight explore that option. Perhaps the question might become: How do we expand our services so that we make museums’ important physical assets of safe civic space and objects useful for tangible three-dimensional learning into more relevant programs that reach all levels of community, and are rated by many more as essential to their needs and their aspirations for their children?
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- Elaine Heumann Gurian (egurian@ix.netcom.com) is a senior museum consultant and a member of the Museum Group.
Tags: audiences, children, civic, community, economy, education, Elaine Heumann Gurian, learning, museum, outreach, recession, social services, soup kitchen
Posted in 53:1, articles, audiences, theory & practice | No Comments »
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
by PINO MONACO AND THEANO MOUSSOURI
Recently, the Smithsonian Institution addressed the challenge of coordinating the articulation of intended learning outcomes for educational programs. Pino Monaco, and Theano Moussouri, got together to discuss the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs), and a similar framework proposed by the National Science Foundation in the U.S., as concrete guidelines to provide tangible and assessable shapes to learning outcomes.
Issues discussed and still open for elaboration rotated around the concept of intentionality – why is the informal education community still discussing whether we should or should not have intended outcomes in mind when we facilitate a learning experience?
Furthermore, after presenting examples of how outcome-based evaluations could be integrated within our current practices, the authors recognized the need for further pondering, especially concerning the issue of “measuring learning outcomes.”
- Isn’t a measurement in contrast with a free-choice learning experience?
- How do we measure fun and enjoyment?
- Instead of measuring, could we gather and describe?
Feel free to join the conversation in the Forum by adding your comments below.
Tags: education, educational programs, evaluation, Generic Learning Outcomes, GLOs, informal, learning, learning outcomes, measurement, National Science Foundation, Pino Monaco, Theano Moussouri
Posted in 52:4, learning, research | 13 Comments »