On the need for expanded guidance in navigating ethical learning research at science museums

Science learning occurs throughout people's lives, inside and outside of school, in formal, informal, and nonformal settings. While museums have long played a role in science education, learning in this and other informal settings has not been studied nor understood as deeply as in formal settings (i.e., schools and classrooms). This position paper, written by learning researchers in a science museum engaged in equity and access work, notes that while the researchers consider the ethics of their work regularly and deeply, little formal guidance exists for the ethical challenges they routinely face in studying science learning. To explore this, the paper first shares contexts of studying informal science education at the Science Museum of Minnesota, including epistemological understandings of both science and research, a commitment to justice-based equity, and existing ethical guidance and processes. Drawing on three research projects, it explores ethical issues pertaining to (a) museum visitors and (b) museum staff and community members engaging in participatory research. First, as visitors do not generally come to a museum to be part of a research study, learning researchers must consider sampling, representation, and data collection methods, balancing these with a museum-goer's desires for their visit. Second, when using participatory methodologies with staff, community members, and young people as co-researchers, ethical considerations involve building relationships, redefining (unanticipated) risks, and data collection and dissemination practices that do not extend existing social inequities or work hierarchies. Ultimately, this position paper argues for expanded or revised ethical guidance that meets the needs of this work, surpasses current guidelines or institutional review board practices, draws on epistemologies outside of a supposedly neutral, individualistic Western framework, and places participants at the center of the work. Such a discussion could enhance the ethical study of science learning across settings.     

Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Collaborations in the Community College Setting

The relationship between academic affairs and student affairs units in higher education settings has traditionally and historically been troubled by the divergent understandings of each other's institutional role and the systematic division of labor between the two. However, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is a desire to substantiate student learning across the institution, the roles of these units have begun to blur. This has led to increased collaboration between the units and increased research on such collaborations. This research project explores the nature of collaboration between academic affairs and student affairs in the community college setting, an area frequently left out of the collaboration conversation. Through analyzing the words of chief officers of these two units, the findings of this qualitative study indicate that community colleges have a unique opportunity to foster collaborations that focus on student learning. Based on these unique factors, the authors offer suggestions for how other institutions can nurture collaborations in their own settings.     

Naïve Theories of Social Groups

Four studies examined children’s (ages 3–10, Total N = 235) naïve theories of social groups, in particular, their expectations about how group memberships constrain social interactions. After introduction to novel groups of people, preschoolers (ages 3–5) reliably expected agents from one group to harm members of the other group (rather than members of their own) but expected agents to help members of both groups equally often. Preschoolers expected between‐group harm across multiple ways of defining social groups. Older children (ages 6–10) reliably expected agents to harm members of the other group and to help members of their own. Implications for the development of social cognition are discussed.     

The development of children's ability to fill the gaps in their knowledge by consulting experts

This research investigated children's ability to recognize gaps in their knowledge and seek missing information from appropriate informants. In Experiment 1, forty-five 4- and 5-year-olds were adept in assigning questions from 3 domains (medicine, firefighting, and farming) to corresponding experts (doctor, firefighter, or farmer). However, when given the options of answering the same questions themselves or assigning them to an expert (Experiment 2), only 6-year-olds were consistently able to recognize when they did not know answers and then assign test questions correctly. Four- and 5-year-olds tended to overestimate their own knowledge or assign questions to the wrong expert. This result was replicated in Experiment 3, in which 5-year-olds were given incentives for correct answers.     

The development and assessment of an online microscopic anatomy laboratory course

Increasing enrollment in post‐secondary institutions across North America, along with an increase in popularity of and demand for distance education is pressuring institutions to offer a greater number and variety of courses online. A fully online laboratory course in microscopic anatomy (histology) which can be taught simultaneously with a face‐to‐face (F2F) version of the same course has been developed. This full year course was offered in the Fall/Winter (FW) terms in both F2F and online formats. To ensure that the online course was of the same quality as the F2F format, a number of performance indicators were evaluated. The same course, offered exclusively online during the summer with a compressed time frame, was also evaluated. Senior undergraduate students self‐selected which version of the course they would enroll in. Course assessment outcomes were compared while incoming grades were used as a predictor for course performance. There were no significant differences between the incoming grades for the F2F FW and Online FW courses; similarly, there were no significant differences between outcomes for these formats. There were significant differences between the incoming grades of the F2F FW and Summer Online students. However, there were no significant differences among any of the outcomes for any of the formats offered. Incoming grades were strong, significant predictors of course performance for both formats. These results indicate that an online laboratory course in microscopic anatomy is an effective format for delivering histology course content, therefore giving students greater options for course selections. Anat Sci Educ 6: 246–256. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Book Reviews

Horace Mann: Educational Statesman. By E. I. F. Williams. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 354 pp. $1.50.

Recollections and Reflections. By J. J. Thomson. The Macmillan Co. 451 pp. $4.00.

The Woodrow Wilsons. By Eleanor Wilson McAdoo in collaboration with Margaret Y. Gaffey. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 301 pp. $3.50.

Glimpses into the Long Ago and a Brave Young Land. By Edna McGuire. First two volumes in a series of History texts for the Elementary School. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 333 and 392 pp. $.96 and $1.08.

Measuring Intelligence. A Guide to the Administration of the New Revised Stanford-Binet Tests of Intelligence. By Lewis M. Terman and Maud A. Merrill. Houghton Mifflin Co. 461 pp. $2.25.

My Typewriter and I. By Nellie Louise Merrick, Robert Frederick Bown, and August Dvorak. Foreword by Alfred L. Hall-Quest. American Book Co. 363 pp. $2.20.

Naturalism in American Education. By Geoffrey O'Connell. The Catholic University of America. 219 pp.

Philosophy of Education. By Rupert C. Lodge. Harper and Brothers. 328 pp. $2.00.

Secondary School Teaching. By J. G. Umstattd. Ginn and Co. 459 pp. $3.00.

As of the Gods. By Walter Rollo Brown. D. Appleton-Century Co. 237 pp. $2.00.

Death Stops the Rehearsal. By Richard M. Baker. Charles Scribner's Sons. 335 pp. $2.00.

Notable Short Stories. Selected and Edited by Raymond McFarland. The Macmillan Co. 423 pp. $1.00.

Storm in a Teacup. By Gus March-Phillips. E. P. Dutton and Co. 304 pp. $2.00.

The Long Death. By George Dyer. A Catalyst Club Mystery. Charles Scribner's Sons. 250 pp. $2.00.

Dine at Home with Rector: A Book on What Men Like, Why They Like It, and How to Cook It. By George Rector. Preface by Arthur “Bugs” Baer. E. P. Dutton and Co. 248 pp. $2.50.

For Readers Only. By J. Penn. Cartoons by Low. E. P. Dutton and Co. 289 pp. $2.50.

Forty Years on Main Street. By William Allen White. Illustrated. Farrar and Reinhart. 409 pp. $3.00.

Look Through the Bars. By Ernst Toller. Farrar and Rinehart. 310 pp. $2.75.

Suns Go Down. By Flannery Lewis. The Macmillan Co. 226 pp. $2.00.

A Declaration of Interdependence. By H. A. Overstreet. W. W. Norton and Co. 284 pp. $3.00.

The Dangerous Sea. By George Slocomb. The Macmillan Co. 286 pp. $2.50.