ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Journal of Research in Science Teaching appears to have been friendly to
submissions that address informal science in the past, although many of
these have been clustered in special editions or issues dedicated to
informal science. I haven't read any studies like this in Curator, but it
might be worth contacting the editor there to see if there is an audience
for this research among their readership.

There was a Canadian journal that recently did a special issue on informal
learning, as well, although its name escapes me right now.

You might try submitting your query to the listserv for the National
Association for Research in Science Teaching, as well.

In any case, I'll be very interested in reading your paper. Any chance of
receiving an advance copy?

Thanks,

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Marianne Mortensen
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 12:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ASTC: Journal for manuscript submission


ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*

Dear ASTC Listserv friends,

Once again I am enlisting your help. I have a manuscript on museum
worksheets that is ready to submit, but there is such a wealth of journals
out there that I am having trouble narrowing down which one to submit to. Do
you have any advice? Please refer to the abstract of my paper below. And
once again, thanks for your help.

/Marianne

Abstract
The museum visit is an important part of elementary school science teaching,
and the worksheet can be a valuable tool in structuring students’ use of
this free-choice learning environment. A number of guidelines and
recommendations on worksheet construction have been set forth in the
literature, but the connection between theoretical recommendations and the
practical use of worksheets remains poorly documented.

In the present study, a worksheet intended to guide school groups during
their visit to the XXX Museum of Natural Sciences is evaluated in the light
of guidelines from the literature. To understand how the worksheet affected
the learning potential of the visit, curriculum-related conversations among
students and chaperones were monitored in groups supplied with the
worksheets and in control groups without.

Overall, the worksheets complied well with the recommendations in the
literature with regards to task density, orientation cues, site specificity,
information source, level of choice, cognitive level, and response format.
Furthermore, the results clearly demonstrated that use of the worksheets
increased the number and diversity of curriculum-related conversations among
students and chaperones during the visit, potentially increasing the quality
of the museum visit. The study thus validates some of the recommendations
from the literature, demonstrating that properly designed worksheets may
enhance the quality of museum visits for school groups.



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