ERIC Number: EJ821716
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Jan
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-0693
EISSN: N/A
Staff Members' Ideas about Visitors' Learning at Science and Technology Centres
Davidsson, Eva; Jakobsson, Anders
International Journal of Science Education, v31 n1 p129-146 Jan 2009
This study investigates staff members' ideas and assumptions about visitors' learning at science and technology centres. It also aims to explore in what ways their reasoning intersect with existing theories about learning within the field of science and technology centre research. The results of the study reveal that the staff members allude to learning processes differently by distinguishing organized from non-organized learning, theoretical learning from practical hands-on learning, and serious from non-serious learning. According to most of the staff members, these also conclude with different learning outcomes. Further, a majority of the staff members state that they do not have any scientific knowledge about learning despite the fact that they work with the construction of new exhibitions. When discussing visitors' learning, the staff members instead refer to personal experiences, professional experiences, professional education, and external references. When it comes to how they reason about the natural scientific content, nearly all express that they use references from the natural science community and researchers' knowledge. The article moreover discusses in what ways a socio-cultural approach may be used in order to understand how learning arises when visitors interact with exhibits.
Descriptors: Natural Sciences, Learning Processes, Epistemology, Investigations, Foreign Countries, Professional Personnel, Learning Theories, Interviews, Program Attitudes, Modeling (Psychology), Observational Learning, Intentional Learning, Research and Development Centers, Knowledge Level
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A