Using Reflection Practices to Refine Facilitator Practices in an Informal STEAM Program

• In Event: "STEAM" Programs: Equitable Approaches to Transdisciplinary Informal Environments

Abstract

Objective: We seek to understand how to support the refinement of facilitation practices in an informal STEAM program in a museum setting with facilitators with disciplinary backgrounds that are novice teachers: How does facilitator reflection support the refinement of facilitator practice? We hypothesized that daily role-focused reflection practices could support them in learning from what they have done, as well as assessing the impact of their actions and inform future actions. We explore the orchestration of specific embedded practices like the joint reconstruction of learning situations, multi-perspectival interpretation, sharing insights about practice, and program revision. At a broader level, we are trying to find which pedagogical roles are most salient to enacting transdisciplinary STEAM learning environments.

Theoretical Framework: Cognitive and sociocultural learning theory highlights the importance of coherence and social consequentiality within learning environments from the perspective of learners (Bransford et al., 2010). We leverage our cultural learning pathways framework to understand these (dis)coordinations across learning events; learning is made up of “connected chains of personally consequential activity and sense-making – that are temporally extended, spatially variable, and culturally diverse with respect to value systems and social practices” (Bell et al., 2012, p. 270). We focus our analyses on the effects of specific roles that have been identified for learning partners that support youth learning in informal environments (Barron et al., 2006; Barron & Bell, 2015).

Methods and Data: Through collaborative design-based research (Design Based Research Collective, 2003), we explored how to craft coherence and heighten relevancies within a multi-component, week-long STEAM program experience. Ethnographic field notes, student surveys, and facilitator reflections were analyzed to document progress towards coherence and consequentiality across three iterations of the program (Barab, 2004; Emerson et al., 1995). Using the recordings of reflection sessions (104 recordings of reflection sessions across 26 enactments of the program), we engaged in open coding to identify relevant themes and dynamics present in the data (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), and then in axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) to further articulate the categories within the sessions. Across multiple enactments, these analyses were coordinated with ethnographic interviews of the facilitators to explore the utility of facilitator roles and to document qualities of facilitator learning.

Results: In alignment with prior work, we are finding evidence that engaging in reflective debriefings in informal environments allows facilitators to refine their teaching practice. Building on the reflection sessions, facilitators created curricular systems and instructional guides to help facilitators take up and work through program challenges. These infrastructuring efforts have been supported by the design collaboration and were specifically informed by the reflection sessions. It shows promise for how to build pedagogical capacity and program coherence within such contexts.

Scholarly Significance: We believe that our findings show that scaffolding informal facilitators as they take up STEAM facilitation—by helping them to reflect on their practice and their feelings around the work—supports the cultivation of a more caring program environment and helps make the facilitator learning experience more manageable for novice educators.

Authors

• Philip L. Bell, University of Washington

• Mairead Hurley, Trinity College Dublin

• Joseph Roche, Trinity College Dublin

• Nancy Price, University of Washington