PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE: Tools for Research in Informal SettingsDoris Ash, Jrène Rahm, Leah M. Melber Informal learning, also called free choice learning or out-of-school time, is a relatively new field that has grown exponentially in the past 15 years. Research on the learning and teaching that takes place in these non-traditional, non-classroom environments, such as museums, gardens, afterschool and community programs, has enjoyed tremendous growth; yet we still need to understand much more, and more deeply, how people actually interact, participate and learn in such settings. Putting Theory into Practice: Tools for Research in Informal Settings is designed as a research and practice toolkit, offering a range of theoretically well-grounded methods for assessing learning for life in diverse settings and among diverse populations. We pay special attention to the full complexity, challenges and richness involved in such research into learning in places like museums, aquariums, after-school clubs, and gardens. Putting Theory into Practice serves both, researchers and practitioners, as well as a more general audience. This book offers several field-tested methods for building empirically-based, informal learning settings and research deeply grounded and guided by theory. Sociocultural theory, broadly defined, forms the unifying theoretical framework for the different qualitative studies presented. Each chapter clearly lays out the theoretical underpinnings and how these inform the suggested methods. The chapters are written by recognized experts in the field, and each addresses, in its own way, “the synergy among different learning contexts and the benefits of studying how contexts influence learning.” Together they give voice to the diversity, richness, and complexity of the study of learners and learning for life. |
Contents
1 | |
2 A REFLECTIVE HERMENEUTIC APPROACH TO RESEARCH METHODS INVESTIGATING VISITOR LEARNING | 15 |
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE | 26 |
3 METHODOLOGIES FOR REFLECTIVE PRACTICE AND MUSEUM EDUCATOR RESEARCH The Role of Noticing and Responding | 29 |
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE | 53 |
4 REFRAMING COLLABORATIONS WITH The Importance of Communities of Practice | 55 |
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE | 77 |
5 ACTION RESEARCH AS A MEANS TO LEARN TOTEACH IN OUTOFSCHOOL SETTINGS | 79 |
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE | 118 |
7 MULTISITED ETHNOGRAPHY A Tool for Studying TimeSpace Dimensions of Learning and Identity Work | 121 |
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE | 141 |
8 MEDIATED ACTION AS A FRAMEWORK FOR EXPLORING LEARNING IN INFORMAL SETTINGS | 143 |
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE | 163 |
9 EPILOGUE
Learning in the Usual Places | 165 |
ABOUT THE AUTHORS | 181 |
185 | |
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE | 95 |
6 TRACING OUR METHODOLOGICAL STEPS Making Meaning of Diverse Families Hybrid Figuring Out Practices at Science Museum Exhibits | 97 |
Other editions - View all
Putting Theory Into Practice: Tools for Research in Informal Settings Doris B. Ash,Jrène Rahm,Leah M. Melber No preview available - 2012 |
Putting Theory Into Practice: Tools for Research in Informal Settings Doris B. Ash,Jrène Rahm,Leah M. Melber No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
action research activity theory Anderson aquarium educators Ash & Lombana Ash and Lombana Bed of Nails challenges chapter children’s classroom cognitive collaboration community of practice complexity concept contexts cultural tools data collection Dierking discussion diverse Educational Research engagement in science epistemological evaluation example exhibit experience explore EXPLORING LEARNING field trip focus focused framework goals hermeneutic hybrid individual informal learning informal science informal science institutions informal settings institutions interactions interviews Kisiel learners learning in informal Learning science lessons Lya’s mediated action approach MERs MERtrix metacognition methodological mother multi-sited ethnography museum educators out-of-school settings participants partnership perspective Putting Theory questions Rahm reflective practice role scaffolding scenes science content science education science learning science museums sea anemone social sociocultural space sucrose talk teachers teaching theoretical Theory into Practice touch tank understand vignette visitor learning youth