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Book Chapter
Informal education venues, by their very definition, are predisposed to the successful implementation of the More Emphasis conditions of the National Science Educations Standards (NSES), and Mote Marine Laboratory is no exception to this trend. At Mo...
Book Chapter
The Body of Evidence: COSI’s In Depth: Autopsy Videoconference Program
The Center of Science and Industry’s (COSI) Electron Education program, In Depth: Autopsy, allows students to see and participate in an autopsy as much as possible, given the limits of videoconference technologies. The program puts anatomy, physiol...
Book Chapter
Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is an international center for the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds located on a 200-acre wildlife sanctuary in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1915 by Arthur A. Allen, the world’s first professor of ornith...
Book Chapter
Can an Informal Science Institution Really Play the Key Role in K–12 Science Education Reform?
The Washington State LASER (Leadership Assistance for Science Education Reform) program is under the leadership of the Pacific Science Center, an informal, nonprofit science institution, dedicated to increasing the public’s understanding and apprec...
Book Chapter
Advancing the NSES Vision through Informal Science Education
Despite originally being almost exclusively focused on the school context, the National Science Education Standards (NSES) emerged as an amazingly relevant document for the informal context as well. All four of the Standards—Teaching Standards, Con...
Book Chapter
Inquiry Is Taking Flight Through Project Butterfly WINGS
Project Butterfly WINGS (Winning Investigative Network for Great Science) is designed to foster adolescents' interest, understanding, and long-term involvement in science, as well as promote positive youth development. Through WINGS, students form a ...
Book Chapter
Curious Scientific Investigators Solve Museum Mysteries
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis has developed the Curious Scientific Investigators (CSI) program, which mixes the best the Museum has to offer with classroom instruction. Therefore, CSI’s vision is to support learning by all members of a clas...
Book Chapter
The Ocean Institute (OI) is dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding of the ocean environment. Its 9-week Weather & Water program is intended to interface the very frontier of ocean science with the needs of fifth-grade teachers and classr...
Book Chapter
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo Academy: Where Science Education Comes to Life!
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo has become a leader in both informal and formal science education. Its Zoo Academy is one example of an effective nontraditional teaching model for science education. The academy has become an excellent work-based learning mo...
Book Chapter
Alternative Conceptions: New Directions and Exemplars in College Science Education Research
The most useful science education research for college science teachers is theory based and includes data collected from studies with college students, along with a discussion of the implications for teaching. In this chapter, the authors use example...
Book Chapter
Web-Based Science Inquiry Projects
Web-based inquiry (WBI) learning activities support students as active learners. In these activities, students do not wait for a teacher or someone else to provide an answer. They conduct investigations with meaningful questions about everyday experi...
Book Chapter
Extending Inquiry With Geotechnologies in the Science Classroom
Geotechnologies are tools that allow your students to learn the skills of collecting and analyzing data and creating representations of data with an emphasis on spatial relationships. These processes are critical in nearly every environmental and soc...
Book Chapter
Monica Hartman, Assistant Director for Science in St. Clair County, Michigan, conducted this research while she was the learning specialist in a small suburban district just outside a large Midwestern city. While teaching full time in this district s...
Book Chapter
Science with Attitude: An Informal Science Education Experience
Kansas City's Science City Summer Camp is an eight-week program for children of ages 6-12 from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Drawing on the knowledge that people have diverse learning styles, Science City introduces science concepts each da...
Book Chapter
A Boy with Something on His Mind
Fifteen-year-old Albert Einstein is miserable. He is trying to finish high school in Germany, but he hates the school; it’s a strict, rigid place. To make things worse, his parents have moved to Italy. They think he should stay behind until his sch...