Institute for Learning Innovation
Professional Development Seminar

                  ?Knowledge Construction: Science Museum
                        and Post-Visit Experiences?

David Anderson, from the Institute for Learning Innovation, will be
speaking on his doctoral study of how 11-12 year old students draw on
aspects of their prior knowledge and out-of-school life experiences
during a school visit to an interactive science museum and later
participation in    classroom activities to construct knowledge.

The study provides evidence that the integrated series of post-visit
activities resulted in students constructing and reconstructing their
personal knowledge of science concepts and principles represented in the
exhibits, sometimes towards the accepted scientific understanding and
sometimes in different and surprising ways.  The study highlights the
power of pre-conceptions in the development of knowledge and
understanding, and provides evidence that even the most well intended
exhibit and post-visit activity experiences can result in knowledge
developing in unintended ways.   It underscores for teachers and staff
of science museums and similar centers the importance of planning pre-
and post-visit activities, not only to support the development of
scientific conceptions, but also to detect and respond to alternative
conceptions that may be produced or strengthened during a visit to an
informal learning center.

David  has been a science educator at the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium and
Gordon Southam Observatory in Vancouver and worked as a post-visit
curriculum developer at the Reuben H Fleet Science Center in San Diego.
He has taught in the secondary and tertiary sectors, as a high school
teacher, and a lecturer with the Faculties of Science and Education at
the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. He
received his M.Ed. in Science Education and is currently completing his
Ph.D. at Queensland University of Technology.

                  Thursday, April 30, 1998 from 4:30-6:00
                     Institute for Learning Innovation
                    166  West Street      Annapolis, MD
                              (410) 268-5149
           Please RSVP by Friday, April 17, via phone or email,
                    to Kristi at: [log in to unmask]
                     Limited seating, no fee required
    (Please indicate if you need directions and include a fax number.)

The Institute for Learning Innovation seminars are designed to provide
area professionals with opportunities to share new ideas and information
related to research, evaluation and educational development in the area
of free-choice learning.