Premium
Families Are Learning in Science Museums
Author(s) -
Borun Minda,
Chambers Margaret,
Cleghorn Ann
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
curator: the museum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.312
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2151-6952
pISSN - 0011-3069
DOI - 10.1111/j.2151-6952.1996.tb01084.x
Subject(s) - natural science , science education , science learning , coding (social sciences) , foundation (evidence) , informal learning , informal education , mathematics education , psychology , higher education , pedagogy , sociology , geography , social science , epistemology , archaeology , political science , philosophy , law
This report is based on research findings of a National Science Foundation (NSF)‐funded study conducted by the Philadelphia/Camden Informal Science Education Collaborative (PISEC), which consists of four institutions: The Franklin Institute Science Museum, the New Jersey State Aquarium, The Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. The first year's study addressed the question “How can we identify and measure family learning in science museums?” It documented a relationship between learning levels and observable behaviors. On the basis of coding family conversations and interview data for level of learning, we see that families do learn from exhibits and that the level of learning is related to specific observed behaviors . Grouping these behaviors as performance indicators provides a useful measure of exhibit learning.