Understanding Interactions at Science Centers and Museums

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Introduction

   • Eva Davidsson, Anders Jakobsson

   Pages 1-2

3. Using Sociocultural Frameworks to Understand the Significance of Interactions at Science and Technology Centers and Museums

   • Anders Jakobsson, Anders Jakobsson, Eva Davidsson, Eva Davidsson

   Pages 3-21

4. Changing Practices, Changing Identities as Museum Educators

   • Doris Ash, Judith Lombana, Lucia Alcala

   Pages 23-44

5. The Medium is the Message

   • Erminia Pedretti

   Pages 45-61

6. Family Engagement at Aquarium Touch Tanks—Exploring Interactions and the Potential for Learning

   • Shawn Rowe, James Kisiel

   Pages 63-77

7. Student Teachers’ Moment-to-Moment Reasoning and the Development of Discursive Themes – an Analysis of Practical Epistemologies in a Natural History Museum Exhibit

   • Jesús Piqueras, Per-Olof Wickman, Karim M. Hamza

   Pages 79-96

8. The Impact of Exhibit-Based Professional Development on Teachers’Pck

   • Judith S. Lederman, Gary M. Hollyday, Norman Lederman

   Pages 97-114

9. Exploring and Scaffolding Learning Interactions Between Teachers,Students and Museum Educators

   • Janette Griffin

   Pages 115-128

10. Look and Learn

    • Terence P McClafferty, Léonie Rennie

    Pages 129-145

11. Activity Theory as a Lens to Examine Project-Based Museum Partnerships in Robotics

    • Jrène Rahm

    Pages 147-171

12. Scaffolding Students’ Post-Visit Learning from Interactive Exhibits

    • Jennifer DeWitt

    Pages 173-192

13. Imitating the Family Visit

    • Tali Tal

    Pages 193-206

14. Back Matter

    Pages 207-209

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There is an increasing interest in understanding learning and knowledge development when visitors attend informal institutions, such as museums, science centers, aquariums and botanical gardens. But in what ways do visitors develop new knowledge, skills and awareness about displayed issues in these kinds of settings and how does the exhibition environment affect and scaffold learning processes? In this book, the authors turn their attention to visitors’ and staff members’ actions and dialogues during the visits in order to identify and study learning situations. A common approach is the use and development of socio-cultural and cultural-historical frameworks and theories as means for coming closer to the significance of interactions at different levels and in different contexts. The individual chapters cover learning interactions in relation to staff members’ roles and identities, family visits, exhibitions as resources for professional development and school visits.

• Learning
• learning and instruction

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