Clarifying the complexities of school–museum interactions: Perspectives from two communities

Abstract

If we truly wish to promote science or STEM education, then it would seem that the joining of resources and expertise from the communities of formal schooling and informal science education institutions or ISEIs (museums, aquariums, and the like) would be an important early step. Yet creating such connections between teacher and museum remain a challenge for both teachers and informal educators. This study employs a communities of practice lens (Wenger, 1998) to provide a deeper explanation for the challenges inherent in those programs and experiences (field trips, outreach programs, teacher professional development) where schools and informal science institutions interact to create unique learning opportunities. To better understand the expectations and perceived challenges of these boundary activities, questionnaires, focus groups and interviews were used to gather information from over 200 teachers and informal science institution staff in southern California. Several factors, identified by both groups, were found to influence these shared experiences, including issues of authority, capacity, communication, and complexity. By considering both educators' perspectives, we gain a clearer understanding of the practice of these communities and how such practices influence the activities at these boundaries. Furthermore, a closer look at avid users-those teachers who do successfully and regularly make use of ISEIs-reveals possible avenues for strengthening such boundary activities and potentially creating a more effective merging of learning and teaching resources. #

‘Risky fun’ or ‘Authentic science’? How teachers’ beliefs influence their practice during a professional development programme on outdoor learning

“…From a perspective of teachers' beliefs and teacher self-efficacy, in this paper I have sought to contribute to the existing debate, recently highlighted by Kisiel (2014) as to why some science teachers teach successfully and frequently outside the classroom whilst other teachers do not. During a two year professional development programme, I…”

“…More specifically, Tal, Lavie Alon, and Morag (2014) list exemplar practices of teachers in field trips to natural settings to include: activities that enable active learning and provide substantial interaction with the environment. Whilst these studies tell us that characteristics of teachers' practice can be categorised, as Kisiel (2014) accepts, they do not explain why teachers make different pedagogical decisions concerning opportunities outside the classroom.…”

“…There are those teachers who are found to be 'avid users' and those found to be 'regular users' (Kisiel, 2014). That is, compared to 'regular' teachers, avid users are identified as being able to create opportunities by adjusting their practice, working around challenges in structures of authority, and encouraging colleagues to see the potential of out-of-classroom teaching.…”

Clarifying and Capturing “Trust” in Relation to Science Education: Dimensions of Trustworthiness within Schools and Associations with Equitable Student Achievement

“…Trustworthiness has also been used to examine public views of science and scientists (Nadelson et al., ). Additionally, science teacher professional communities have been shown to improve as the result of collegiality, cooperation, and collaboration (Kisiel, ; Nelson, ). In turn, when teacher affective outcomes are positive, it is understood that student performance outcomes will be as well (Khourey‐Bowers, Dinko, & Hart, ).…”

Informal science institutions and learning to teach: An examination of identity, agency, and affordances

“…Almost all have some type of interpretive activities in conjunction with the exhibits that provide a unique and relatively easy resource to university faculty involved in teacher education. Partnerships between universities and informal science institutions for teacher education are becoming more commonplace and there is research producing evidence of the many ways that an aspiring teacher's practices, and ways of thinking are mediated by either working in a museum (Saxman, Gupta, & Steinberg, ), or have in‐depth experiences using the affordances of the museum to develop lesson plans (Kisiel, ). The findings of this study could advance the ways that those collaborators work together, deepening these types of learning experiences to include opportunities for aspiring teachers to work with multiple groups of visitors, school groups, or other audiences as a part of their field or clinical experiences.…”