Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community (United Nations, 2012). In Europe and around the globe, many efforts have been made in order to include people with visual impairments and blindness into the cultural life. The objects and artifacts exhibited in museums for people with visual impairments are…

This paper sets out to queer education's normative human-centric assumptions and to de-centre the straight and narrow vision of the child as only ever becoming an autonomous individual learner. It re-focuses upon the more-than-human learning that takes place when we pay attention to queerer aspects of children's, as well as our own,…

This article addresses how far educational institutions have come in designing authentic and meaningful curricula for teaching the Holocaust at the secondary level. Examined in this article are the historical development of Holocaust education in the United States, with a focus on the state of Illinois as a case study, what contributes to the…

Educators in informal settings can be a key part of the learning experience, yet they are often poorly supported as professionals. This study followed the professional development of museum educators who participated in iterative implementation of a new school trip program focused on climate change. The learner-centered pedagogy, inquiry format,…

This naturalistic, qualitative study examines the nature of child- and adult-led interactions in a children's museum. Using dialogic learning as a theoretical framework, the study examines how children and adults engage in interactions while learning at a museum. Findings suggest that children and adults are almost equally likely to lead…

Until recently, museums mainly communicated well-established knowledge. Current science, however, is characterized by a rapid knowledge increase, so that we often have to deal with fragile and inconsistent knowledge. In order to develop exhibitions that encourage visitors to process information in a differentiated way, museums need to know how…

As coordinator of childhood science education at Brooklyn College, Eleanor Miele found an able partner in the school's assistant principal for instruction in a school where the PTA science committee wanted to improve science teaching at their school. They began by asking themselves how they could jump-start a change in science teaching…

This exploratory analysis of student attendance at science museums finds that student achievement in science and mathematics is somewhat higher for those students who visited science museums frequently during the school year or summer. The strength of the association with cognitive achievement is sufficiently noteworthy to encourage further…

United Nations of Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO's) founding statements about environmental education (EE) in the 1970s positioned it as a multidisciplinary field of inquiry. When enacted as such, it challenges traditional ways of organising secondary school education by academic subject areas. Equally,…

The school field trip has a long history in American public education. For decades, students have piled into yellow buses to visit a variety of cultural institutions, including art, natural history, and science museums, as well as theaters, zoos, and historical sites. Schools gladly endured the expense and disruption of providing field trips…

In this column the author discusses several major works that came out in the 50-year period from the 1920s to the 1960s, as well as real-world examples that show that differentiated curriculum works and can make a difference in the lives of gifted learners. In the 1920s, Leta Hollingworth's work advocated a specialized curriculum for gifted…

Thematic art museum education programmes--programmes where visitors make meaning of various artworks in relation to a specific preselected theme--are conspicuous within interactive museum education on both sides of the Atlantic. How do thematic programmes influence visitors' experiences with art? In this article, I explore this question based…

The use of mobile devices for informal learning has gained attention over recent years. Museum learning is also regarded as an important research topic in the field of informal learning. This study explored a blended mobile museum learning environment (BMMLE). Moreover, this study applied three blended museum learning modes: (a) the traditional…

This article provides ideas and techniques to improve science teaching, while providing tips for planning and executing field trips. Discussed here are practical planning suggestions for choosing an appropriate destination months before the trip, the cost per student, availability of restroom and lunch facilities, transportation arrangements,…

This article describes a family-friendly science day event that encourages scientific discovery through hands-on activities, while also providing an opportunity to learn about scientific careers from actual research scientists and science educators, thereby raising awareness of the importance of STEM in our society. The one-day event bought…