This paper presents findings from a qualitative UK study exploring the social practices of schoolchildren visiting an interactive science discovery centre. It is promoted as a place for "learning through doing", but the multi-modal, ethnographic methods adopted suggest that children were primarily engaged in (1) sensory pleasure-taking…

Despite science's central role in European culture, public perception of, and participation with, science is characterised by contradictions and conflicting agenda. School curriculum reform, for example by Scottish Government, promotes "science for citizenship", yet teachers' understandings of the nature of science and its relationship with…

The apparent simplicity of ethnographic methods--studying people in their normal life setting, going beyond what might be said in surveys and interviews to observe everyday practices--is deceptive. Anthropological knowledge is gained through fieldwork and through pursuing a reflexive flexible approach. This study carried out in a non-government…

The use of visual methods has become increasingly significant to ethnographic research. The possibilities and challenges I experienced using visual research methods in the school ethnography are examined. This paper explores some of the ethical, practical and methodological issues that arise from the use of video, photographs, pictures and images…