1,720,981 research outputs found
Using EDA measures to detect emotional expressions during family science activities, a methodological perspective
No full textPhysiological measures associated with emotional expressions have been used extensively in lab- and more recently digital-learning settings. However, the portable and ubiquitous nature of hardware that measures these physiological features makes them particularly useful in situations where you do not want the hardware to be too obtrusive, like in contexts of informal learning. In this proof-of-concept study we apply skin conductance methods that measure Electrodermal Activity (EDA) to a family everyday activities context, in which a parent and their children, complete several science learning activities, while being recorded by both video and EDA hardware. We analyse the resulting data in three different ways: (i) a peak analysis in software recommended by the hardware provider, (ii) a conventional, qualitative microanalysis, and (iii) a method mainly used by econometricians to discover ‘structural breaks’ in time series data. We conclude that all three provide a piece of the overall puzzle, revealing up- and down-sides of each method
Strategies in solving and talking about an educational science escape room game
No full textEscape rooms are a popular genre of physical games. Following the surge in their popularity as recreational games, the genre has made its way into a variety of educational settings with the aim of introducing specific knowledge, content related skills, general skills or fostering affective outcomes. Yet there is limited evidence whether and how escape games achieve these aims. This study attempts to take a deeper look into the learning experience of participants by investigating strategies adopted by different groups of players, the extent to which subject knowledge is discussed within each group and whether these are affected by the types of puzzles. To do this, an educational science escape room game called “Con-Science Escape” consisting of six scientific puzzles was played by 24 MSc students in a university in the UK. The puzzles focused on chemistry and physics: Four were ‘wet’ puzzle consisting of hands-on lab activities and ‘two’ puzzles were ‘dry’ requiring no lab work. Students were split into groups and each group was video-recorded during their game. The video data were analysed to investigate strategies used by each group and the amount of utterance about the subject knowledge of science during the puzzle solving. Analysis revealed five types of strategies: seeking, individual leadership, doing, collaborating and working with a lack of clear strategy. None of the groups seemed to have exhibited a lot of talk about science. ‘Doing’ seems to have led to the fastest time solving the puzzles but collaborating led to the most science talk. We discuss the implications of these findings and what future directions we believe research on educational escape rooms should take. We will aim to bring some of the puzzles to the summer school presentation to allow participants to experience the escape room firsthand
Unstructured interactions between visitors and staff after a science and a planetarium show – insights from a pilot study
No full textSolving educational escape room games: group strategies and talk about educational content
No full text‘We often forget it was a disaster’: cross-curricular teacher collaboration to develop a curriculum unit on the Titanic disaster
No full textThe need to integrate school subjects and cross disciplinary boundaries to address local and global challenges has been emphasised, particularly when teaching about complex and sensitive issues such as disasters. This study explores how the integration of science and history can facilitate learning about disasters through a case study of a cross-curricular teacher professional development project in England. Seven teachers (four history, three science) from state-funded secondary schools and two museum educators in Southampton, UK, collaborated with university researchers over an eight-month period to develop a curriculum unit on the Titanic disaster for Key Stage 3 pupils (aged 11–14). Through a qualitative analysis of teacher feedback, workshop recordings and artefacts, and interviews, we illustrate the teachers’ initial excitement at the prospect of cross-curricular integration and how this excitement was then tempered by practical and logistical challenges that prevented their integration ideas from materialising into the curriculum unit. Nevertheless, teachers found that the CPD helped them to see and attend to the connections across the curriculum. Teachers rediscovered Titanic as a tragic event with historical significance for local students, which needs to be taught with reverence and ethical sensitivity. Using the Titanic disaster as an example, the study points to the potential for cross-curricular integration and teacher collaboration in teaching about disasters holistically in secondary schools
Participatory Research with Museum Practitioners: A reflection on the process
No full textThis research explores the process of a Participatory Research (PR) project that brought together university researchers with museum practitioners to create reflective tools that can be used to better understand real practical challenges. This project followed Bourke’s (2009) definition of PR, viewing the process as a collaborative endeavour between researchers and practitioners in all steps of the way including project planning, research design, data collection and analysis, and distribution and application of research findings. In this project, we ran three main workshops with small group meetings in between, which were audio and video recorded and subsequently transcribed. These were then analysed to capture the PR process using James and Shaw’s (2023) Heuristic Framework as our analytical framework while using deductive and inductive techniques. Our analysis focused on understanding the dynamics between researchers and practitioners in this PR project in order to better understand how to conduct PR projects in this context. Our analysis offers a refined model that can be adapted and used with museum practitioners while identifying areas that need further attention in the process of PR. We included an important phase of reflection, and we offer recommendations for those who would like to take a PR approach in their research
“Leonardo da Vinci was a Renaissance man”: using narrative-based pedagogy on a field trip to a science museum
No full textNarratives, or stories, are used every day by people as a way of making sense of and communicating events in the world. Narratives can be highly useful as a learning tool in science education. Though research on narrative-based pedagogy in science education and communication is very common, most of that research was done in formal settings.Our study followed fourth-grade students who visited the science museum on a field trip, entitled “The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci,” which used narrative-based pedagogy (e.g., the story of Leonardo da Vinci) as a common thread throughout the visit. Interviewing the students after the visit revealed that most students remembered facts mentioned in the narrative, and the narrative had a long-term effect. The students remembered this visit better than other visits. In addition, more than half of the students used vocabulary that could be associated with the visit. This study supports the idea that art-based research methods can be effective. Using photos and images proved to be more engaging for students, and all students used the photos of exhibits and other images to create their own stories
Embodied interactions in a science museum
No full textInformal science learning environments, such as science museums, afford a variety of interactions, sense-making processes, participation modes, and roles. Accumulating research advances our understanding of the cognitive and affective dimensions of science learning in informal environments, including the development of scientific sense-making and identity. Despite the variety of opportunities informal settings uniquely afford for physical interactions (particularly relatively to classrooms) and the importance of physical interactions in these settings, research of embodied sense-making and identification in informal settings is scant. In this study, we take a multimodal analysis approach to explore the ways by which visitors' bodies participate in their interactions with each other and with the exhibits at an Israeli science museum. We employ Goodwin's (2007) Embodied Participation Framework to micro-analyze one episode of three visitors engaging with the Pulleys exhibit. The analysis points to the ways in which the physical design of the exhibit shaped the physical interaction. This interaction included embodied sense-making that shaped and was shaped by the visitors' embodied positioning and identification. The study advances the understanding of interactions in science museums by directing attention to the physical interaction rather than focusing solely on verbal interaction and thereby highlighting the role of embodiment. It further illustrates the ways in which video-based field studies coupled with a relevant multimodal analytic framework can explicate the interactional organization of engagement with objects in informal science learning environments
Identifying emotional expressions during family science engagement at home—a case study from a parent's perspective
No full textFamilies play a pivotal role in fostering children's science literacy, interests, and identities through everyday interactions and informal learning contexts, with parents as main facilitators. An essential, yet often underexplored, aspect of this process is the role of emotions in shaping science learning experiences. Emotions serve as powerful mediators of engagement, influencing key learning outcomes such as interest, motivation, achievement, and persistence. Despite the recognized importance of family engagement in science learning and the emotional dimensions associated with it, there is a significant gap in research specifically examining how families engage with science at home and the role emotions play in these settings. In this case study, we employed a mixed methods approach consisting of electro-dermal activity (physiological) and recorded observations (behavioral) to identify the emotional expressions of a mother as she engaged in five science activities with her children (ages 13, 11, 7, and 4) at home. All five activities were analyzed utilizing the following procedures: 1. Peak analysis, 2. Structural breaks, and 3. Microanalysis. We complemented our interpretation of the data with reflective notes and a reflective interview (self-reports) with the participant. The study reveals that mediated activities elicit more positive emotional expressions; the interrelationship between emotions and cognitive, social, and cultural domains needs to be accounted for while analyzing emotions, and highlights the methodological challenges of measuring emotions. By focusing on how a parent guides home science activities, it fills critical gaps in understanding family-based science engagement and sheds light on the affective dimensions of informal science learning. Employing a mixed methods approach provides a comprehensive understanding of emotional expressions during home science activities, which enhances the validity of the findings and captures the dynamic nature of emotions, offering a robust approach for analyzing the interplay between physiological, behavioral, and interpretive emotional expressions in real-world contexts
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