FREE-CHOICE LEARNING -- YEAR IN REVIEW
For the last six years Oregon Sea Grant Extension has supported research on the learning that happens when people visit science museums, zoos, and aquaria in their leisure time, making conscious choices about what they want to learn, where they want to learn, and how they want to learn. Such free-choice learning makes up the majority of learning we engage in throughout our lives and most people’s knowledge about marine and ocean sciences comes from these informal channels people choose in their leisure time.
LEARNING IN A MUSEUM LAB
The primary goal of the Oregon Sea Grant Free-Choice Learning Program (FCLP) is to carry out research, evaluation and education in lifelong free-choice learning. The HMSC Visitor Center serves as an ideal museum lab for this work. Under the leadership of Dr. Shawn Rowe, Marine Education Learning Specialist at Oregon Sea Grant Extension, FCLP goals are reached through partnerships with the College of Science's Department of Science and Mathematics Education, the Environmental Sciences Program and the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Science’s Marine Resource Management Program. Primary funding has come from Oregon Sea Grant Extension, the College of Science, the National Science Foundation, the Oregon Department of Education, and NOAA.
OUTREACH
Through Rowe’s work in the Department of Science and Mathematics Education, our website, conference presentations, and professional development offerings, the Free-Choice Learning Program continues to disseminate information about HMSC and OSU program offerings, activities, and project findings to students and professionals in formal and informal sciences around the region and country. Between July 2009 and June 2010, Rowe and/or students presented research findings from their work at the HMSC museum lab to attendees of the following:
- 2010 AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting
- American Educational Research Association Meeting
- National Association of Research in Science Teaching Annual Meeting
- Visitors Studies Association Meeting
- Western Museums Association Meeting
- Sea Grant Climate Workshop
- Science on a Sphere Network meeting
- Aquarium and Zoological Association annual meeting
In addition, research findings were published in the journals Public Understanding of Science, Visitor Studies, and Tourism in Marine Environments.
EDUCATION / EVALUATION
While studies aimed at the development and evaluation of exhibits continue to be an important component of the Free-Choice Learning Program, the 2009-2010 year was characterized by increases in activity in studies of the efficacy of various types of professional development for scientists, educators, volunteer communicators, and K-12 teachers.
COSEE-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIPS
For example, Dr. Rowe is co-pi and Co-Director of the NSF-funded Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence, Pacific Partnerships. This partnership between HMSC, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Oregon Coast Aquarium, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Oregon Coast Community College, and Southwest Coast Community College aims to develop education programming and research opportunities for community college students, faculty, informal science educators, and marine education volunteers in Oregon, Washington, California, and Hawaii. In addition to supporting the evaluation redesign of the Oregon Coast Aquarium volunteer training, COSEE – Pacific Partnerships also supported workshops at HMSC, OSU main campus, and California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo for ocean scientists, graduate students, and post-docs on communicating sciences through partnerships with outreach and education institutions. The COSEE – Pacific Partnerships continued to lead the state in the development of a Coastal Master Naturalist Program this year, with the piloting of curriculum modules. Some of this work was presented at the Ocean’s conference in Portland in 2010.
LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE
Dr. Rowe continues to collaborate with Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley to create communications and learning theory training opportunities for informal educators. With on-going NSF funding, Celeste Barthel, Heidi Schmoock and Shawn Rowe ran professional development workshops for educators and floor staff at HMSC and at informal science institutions from the central California Coast. The workshops use reflective practice techniques and activities to promote on-going, long term professional development. This work was presented at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching Annual Conference in Philadelphia.
OCAMP
Dr. Rowe is also co-pi on an ODE funded Title IIB Math Science Partnership. The Oregon Coastal and Aquatic Marine Science Project (OCAMP) partners 32 Lincoln County k-12 teachers with informal educators and scientists from HMSC, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, and the Oregon Hatchery Research Center for professional development and the creation of high-quality, on-going marine science field experiences for Lincoln County students. Over 70 hours of professional development were offered for the teachers since August of 2009.
COSIA
Every winter, the Department of Science and Mathematics Education offers the Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) class. While the class is taught on campus, all of the students travel to HMSC, Oregon Coast Aquarium and other sties to deliver hands-on ocean sciences activities. The purpose of this National Science Foundation funded class is to introduce future scientists to communication techniques by giving them the opportunity to use hands-on materials to teach basic science concepts to schoolchildren, adults, and public audiences. Students from Oceanography, Marine Resource Management, Biology, Zoology, Atmospheric Sciences, Engineering, and Science and Math Education took the class in winter 2010 and delivered hands-on activities on marine biology and physical oceanography to audiences at the HMSC and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, high-school students at OSU's Salmon Bowl, middle-school students at SMILE's Middle School Challenge, and families at SMILE and HHMI funded family science nights.
FACULTY RESEARCH
EXAMINING VISITOR ENGAGEMENT AT TOUCH TANKS (EVEnTT)
Dr. Shawn Rowe and Dr. Jim Kisiel, California State University, Long Beach, continued their Sea Grant funded research on learning from interactions with live animals in touch tanks at public aquarium institutions in Oregon and Southern California: HMSC Visitor Center, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Aquarium of the Pacific and Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Presentations of the findings were made at the American Educational Research Association meeting in Denver this year, and two culminating workshops were offered to informal educators in each region in October 2010.
MAGIC PLANET
A team of faculty, staff, and students funded by Sea Grant and NOAA also continued work on development of the Magic Planet, spherical display system at HMSC. The Magic Planet is a one-meter diameter digital sphere. In addition to basic research on what and how people learn from the Magic Planet and the related exhibit Science on a Sphere at Maryland Science Center and the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, the team also created new programming for the sphere and evaluation tools for understanding how it works as a learning tool for national dissemination later in summer 2010.
STUDENT RESEARCH
Céleste Frazier Barthel (Science and Math Education) continued her work this year on the efficacy of professional development for informal educators and completed her master’s degree in Geosciences at OSU with research done on Magic Planet and the Science on a Sphere. Her work was presented at the annual Ocean’s conference in Portland.
Kathryn Stofer (Science and Math Education) worked closely with Dr. Rowe and Mark Farley on the evaluation and research surrounding the Magic Planet this year with funding from NOAA.
Michael Liu (Science and Math Education) worked with Chinese speaking families to understand in what ways their experiences at touch tanks are similar to and different from those documented by Rowe and Kisiel in their on-going work.
Robyn Anderson (Science and Math Education) worked with teachers in the OCAMP collecting data on their learning, their teaching, and their facilitation of field experiences for students.
Laura Dover (Science and Math Education) and Michelle Mileham (Environmental Sciences) both carried out research with volunteers at both HMSC and Oregon Coast Aquarium to understand best practices in the professional development of volunteers both in communications and content delivery. Michelle was awarded a Holt Marine Education Award to support her work on exploring the most efficacious methods for professional development of volunteers around marine protected areas and communications about potentially controversial topics.
In addition to this work, the HMSC Volunteer Coordinator, Becca Schiewe enrolled this year in the department’s master’s degree in Free-Choice Science Learning. Becca brings her experiences and activities from the classes she is attending in the college of science to her work on the floor, benefiting volunteers and visitors.
