Scope of Action for Learning in Science Centers

• In Event: Space and Technologies for Learning in Schools, Museums, and Workplaces: Recent Approaches in Design-Based Research

Abstract

Objective

This study presents research findings from a design experiment (Brown, 1992) that explores how groups of high school students discuss disciplinary issues while interacting with an ICT-based heat pump exhibit in a science museum setting. From a sociocultural interpretation of learning processes, the aim of this study is to scrutinize the types of learning taking place, and to analyze these in relation to the premises for action built into a science museum exhibit.

Perspective

The concept of learning in science centers has been a topic in the research literature for several decades, and theoretical frameworks for how to study learning in these settings have been offered (Dierking, Ellenbogen & Falk, 2004; Anderson & Ellenbogen, 2012). Still, the concept of learning is rather blurry when looking more thoroughly into the practical design of exhibits and young people’s interactions with these. Even where exhibits are designed to foster particular disciplinary issues and supported with pedagogic tasks, young people struggle to develop disciplinary concepts based on their interactions with these exhibits. Studies have shown that performing an experiment, i.e. making hot air balloons rise, is not sufficient for young people to develop an explanation in physics of why this happens (Achiam, 2012). This is a common finding also in science classrooms (see i.e. Krange & Ludvigsen, 2008), and gives a foundation to investigate and discuss what scope of action there is for learning in science centers.

Methods and Data

The study was organized at the science center. Different types of methods were used to document the students’ interactions with an ICT based heat pump exhibit. The primary data are video recordings, supplemented be log data, screen dumps, still pictures, and students’ video productions. Four groups of four to six students were recorded and the data were analyzed in line with conventions for interaction analysis (Jordan & Henderson, 1985; Linell, 2009). According to the task description given on iPods, they produced a short video to explain why a house becomes hotter and colder in relation to outdoor temperature changes.

Results

Analysis of the students’ interactions with the heat pump exhibit is used to problematize the scope of action for learning in science centers as physical spaces. The students engage deeply with the exhibit and draw on different semiotic resources, both those built into the exhibit itself but also their previous knowledge. The analysis shows that the students learn some disciplinary concepts, which they use to explain temperature changes in the house, but these are not really appropriated or at least not shared. The group negotiates the level of disciplinary details they employ when giving an explanation in the short video production. The study reveals students’ expectations as to what they should learn in the science center, using physical exhibits, is not a trivial matter.

Implications for future research

The study suggests that more research is needed on the ways in which pedagogical activities and digital resources may be designed to support collaborative learning in science museum exhibits.

Author

• Ingeborg Krange, University of Oslo