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