Exploring a school–aquarium collaboration: An intersection of communities of practice

Abstract

This study examines the development and ongoing activities of a collaboration between an urban elementary school and a nearby aquarium. Although the benefits of such collaborations in support of science education are touted by numerous national organizations, the pathway to creating a successful relationship between these two different institutions, with inherently different cultures, is less well documented. Using the theoretical framework of communities of practice (E. Wenger, 1998), a better understanding of the challenges and successes of this collaboration is presented. In particular, the analysis suggests that participant engagement in both communities (school and aquarium) led to the development of an overlap in these communities of practice. This resulted when common forms of mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire emerged over the course of the project. Consistent with Wenger's framework, boundary objects and brokers could be identified that helped secure such overlap in this particular case. Implications of this theoretical perspective for facilitating the development of such institutional collaborations are also discussed.

Community-School Collaborations in Science: Towards Improved Outcomes Through Better Understanding of Boundary Issues

“…There was specific comment from 14 of the interviewees about problems of communication across the boundary between school and the community organisation. This should not be a surprise as other studies have identified communication as a significant issue (Kisiel, 2010;Rennie, 2012). Under the general heading of communication, we could identify several specific issues.…”

“…First, while there is a great deal of diversity in the collaborations that exist (Slater & Ravid, 2010; from large scale operations such as Australia's Scientists in Schools, see for example Howitt & Rennie, 2009;Rennie, 2012; to smaller scale collaborations, see for example, Kisiel, 2010), there are not many studies in which the researchers explore more than one type of arrangement. There is thus a need for research studies which explore the issues around such activity across a range of types of collaboration.…”

“…A number of the studies (for example, Forbes & Skamp, 2013Kisiel, 2010;Rennie, 2012) examine collaborations through the lens of communities of practice (Rogoff, 1994;Wenger, 1998). These communities of practice framework, together with the notion of boundary crossing, will be explored in this paper as an appropriate lens to consider school-community collaborations in science.…”

“…In relation to his work on communities of practice, Wenger describes boundary objects as Bforms of reification around which communities of practice can organize their interconnections^ (1998, p. 105) which come in the form of artefacts (tools), discourses (as a common language), or processes that allow coordination of action. Kisiel (2010), in a study of collaboration between staff from a school and from a local aquarium, uses the constructs of communities of practice (in this case the school and the aquarium), and boundary crossing, to understand the changing relationship and learning taking place over time. He describes how the two communities intersect as they develop common forms of mutual engagement (buy-in from both sides), joint enterprise (school and aquarium learning mutually supporting) and shared repertoire (common teaching frames).…”

Las Visitas a Museos De Ciencias Y Su Relación Con La Escuela. Una Revisión Documental.

“…En esta categoría se incluyen algunos artículos cuyo objetivo era realizar un estudio de las investigaciones que tenían como objeto la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en museos (Martín, 2004;Kay et al 2009;Kisiel, 2009;Boehme et al 1997).…”