The museum visit is an important part of elementary school science teaching. However, a divide exists between teachers, who require curricular accountability, and museums, who emphasize free‐choice exploration. Can a carefully constructed worksheet bridge this divide by providing free‐choice exploration of curricular topics during the museum visit? In the present study, a theoretical framework was constructed to inform the design of worksheets as free‐choice learning devices. This framework was used to analyze the design of an existing museum worksheet. Subsequently, curriculum‐related conversations among school groups visiting a museum were monitored in groups supplied with the worksheet and in control groups without. Overall, the worksheet complied well with design criteria synthesized from the free‐choice learning literature. Furthermore, the use of the worksheet increased the number and diversity of curriculum‐related conversations among school groups during the visit. This study documents that the use of carefully designed worksheets may increase students' exposure to curriculum during a museum visit, and thus may help build better bridges between teacher needs and museum free‐choice identities. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1389–1414, 2007

Science museums define the objectives of their exhibitions in terms of visitor learning outcomes, yet exhibition engineering staff lack theoretical and empirical research findings on which to base the creation of these educational environments. Here, a first step towards providing such research is reported. Museographic transposition was used as an analytical framework to investigate the development of an existing museum exhibit on animal adaptations to darkness. The analysis yielded a descriptive model of exhibition engineering as a three-stage process in which simultaneous processes of epistemological development and museum-pedagogical development result in the curatorial brief which forms the basis of the subsequent museographic development of the physical exhibit. Examples are discussed which illustrate the use of the model in identifying exhibition inconsistencies, but also in generating new ideas for exhibition engineering. The potential for further developing the model is discussed.

Methylprednisolone administered into the wound cavity on the first day after M + SLNB exerted a highly significant preventive effect against seroma formation during the next 30 days. This effect was not seen in the M + ALND group. Future studies may clarify whether higher or repeated methylprednisolone doses increase the efficacy.

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