Reflecting on Practice for STEM Educators: A Guide for Museums, Out-of-school, and Other Informal Settings

Reflecting on Practice for STEM Educators is a guidebook to lead a professional learning program for educators working in STEM learning environments.

Making research on the science of human learning accessible to educational professionals around the world, this book shows educators how to relate this research to their own practice. Educators’ collective work broadens the scope of an organization’s reach, and through this effort, the organization grows its social capital in its local community and beyond. This book offers opportunities to engage in processes that lead toward organizational learning by attending to the professional growth of the educators. Tran and Halversen show how learning together can shape the language and meanings by which educators do and talk about their work to support visitors’ experiences. The book provides guidance on how teams of educators can build community as they engage in reflective practice.

Reflecting on Practice for STEM Educators will be essential reading for leaders of any organization that aims to educate and engage the public in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It will be particularly useful to educators who work in museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, youth organizations, after-school programs, and nature, science, and conservation centres.

Lynn Uyen Tran is Research Director in the Learning and Teaching Group at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Berkeley, USA. Her work focuses on relating the science of learning to teaching practices of informal educators and university faculty, and cultivating reflective practice and professional learning among these communities.

Catherine Halversen is Senior Program Director in the Learning and Teaching Group at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Berkeley, USA. Her work focuses on developing and disseminating inperson and online professional learning programs and instructional materials for STEM university/college faculty, informal educators, and K–12 teachers.