Integrating the Resources of Informal Science Institutions and Formal Science Education: Facilitating Partnerships and Building Knowledge

• In Event: Developing Middle School Teachers’ Understandings About Scientific Inquiry and Investigations: A Case of Formal-Informal Partnerships

Abstract

UA provides access to informal science education institutions (museums, zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens, and science centers) in order to enable and enhance teacher, student, administrator and family learning. This access is designed to both complement and supplement the learning already at work in formal educational settings and, as such, is integral to the assumptions undergirding the UA agenda of science learning. Given the Cohen, Raudenbush and Ball (2003) framework of instruction as enabled by both resource availability and resource use, this presentation explores how teachers are using UA as a vehicle for integrating the resources of informal institutions into their science curricula. To these ends, if UA is furnishing access to the resources, their use is contingent upon how successfully teachers are able to integrate interaction with the resources into their teaching practices.
This presentation seeks to address this issue in two ways. First, we consider how UA structures and facilitates the interface between informal learning institutions and its public school participants. Using UA-designed resources for teachers and students, we examine UA’s efforts to incentivize participation in informal institutions through both its program structure (e.g. free and/or subsidized admission, special UA-specific science programming) and its communication with its participants (e.g. program website, advertising materials, etc). In concert with interview data from UA staff, we find evidence of a cogent and multi-pronged strategy designed to encourage participation by both alleviating barriers to attendance (e.g. financial and logistical concerns) while enhancing scientific content knowledge.
Further, we consider administrator and teacher perspectives on the use of the informal institutions and their resources in science instructional practices. Using data from administrator and teacher case study interviews, this presentation examines how these participants are conceiving of UA as a vehicle for integrating the resources of informal institutions into formal science teaching practices and, subsequently, in what scientific investigation-related capacity (i.e. asking scientific questions, designing investigations, conducting investigations, etc.) the informal institution can be most valuable for science teaching. Interview data sheds light onto how different contextual factors (location, logistical concerns) and varying levels of teacher confidence inform teacher and administrator use of informal science institutions.
Findings shared in this presentation will be helpful in considering best practices for building strong educational relationships between schools and informal institutions by offering insight into the needs and concerns of teachers and administrators working towards integration. In light of this year’s AERA annual meeting theme “Non Satis Scire: To Know Is Not Enough,” this presentation offers insight into how informal education settings may better serve their formal school constituents, and what is necessary for building meaningful learning opportunities that both enhance and engage teachers, students, parents, and administrators.

Author

• Kenne A. Dibner, Michigan State University