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Featured researches published by Heather King.


Museum Management and Curatorship | 2007

The Professionalization of Museum Educators: The Case in Science Museums

Lynn Uyen Tran; Heather King

Abstract Museum educators have a longstanding presence and importance in museums, but there is limited recognition and understanding of their work, both in research and practice. Investigations into the pedagogical actions of educators in science museums suggest that educators do not share a common understanding of best practice, which may be due to the absence of professional preparation grounded in a recognized knowledge base. To ensure quality and credibility of museum education work, and for the occupation to complete its professionalization process, a knowledge base is needed. Thus, we offer a framework upon which the professional work of museum educators may be grounded. This knowledge framework comprises six components: context, choice and motivation, objects, content, theories of learning, and talk, which are organized into three domains of knowledge: museum content knowledge, museum pedagogical knowledge, and museum contextual knowledge.


The disappearing computer | 2007

Augmented paper: developing relationships between digital content and paper

Paul Luff; Guy Adams; Wolfgang Bock; Adam Drazin; David M. Frohlich; Christian Heath; P Herdman; Heather King; Nadja Linketscher; Rachel Murphy; Moira C. Norrie; Abigail Sellen; Beat Signer; Ella Tallyn; Emil Zeller

Some of the most interesting developments within computer system design in recent years have emerged from an exploration of the ways everyday objects and artefacts can be augmented with computational resources. Often under the rubric of “ubiquitous computing”, research programmes in Europe, North America and Japan have directed substantial funding towards these initiatives, and leading industrial and academic research laboratories have developed a diverse range of ubiquitous computing “solutions”. These developments mark an important shift in system design, a shift that is having a corresponding impact on social science research. Surprisingly though, given the growing commitment to the ubiquitous and the tangible, there is a mundane, even humble artefact that pervades our ordinary lives that has received less attention than one might imagine. This artefact is paper.


Journal of Science Communication | 2015

Highlighting the value of evidence-based evaluation: pushing back on demands for 'impact'

Heather King; Kate Steiner; Marie Hobson; Amelia Robinson; Hannah Clipson

This paper discusses the value and place of evaluation amidst increasing demands for impact. We note that most informal learning institutions do not have the funds, staff or expertise to conduct impact assessments requiring, as they do, the implementation of rigorous research methodologies. However, many museums and science centres do have the experience and capacity to design and conduct site-specific evaluation protocols that result in valuable and useful insights to inform ongoing and future practice. To illustrate our argument, we discuss the evaluation findings from a museum-led teacher professional development programme, Talk Science.


International Journal of Science Education | 2015

Teachers’ Understanding and Operationalisation of ‘Science Capital’

Heather King; Effrosyni Nomikou; Louise Archer; Elaine Regan

Across the globe, governments, industry and educationalists are in agreement that more needs to be done to increase and broaden participation in post-16 science. Schools, as well as teachers, are seen as key in this effort. Previous research has found that engagement with science, inclination to study science and understanding of the value of science strongly relates to a students science capital. This paper reports on findings from the pilot year of a one-year professional development (PD) programme designed to work with secondary-school teachers to build students’ science capital. The PD programme introduced teachers to the nature and importance of science capital and thereafter supported them to develop ways of implementing science capital-building pedagogy in their practice. The data comprise interviews with the participating teachers (n = 10), observations of classroom practices and analyses of the teachers’ accounts of their practice. Our findings suggest that teachers found the concept of science capital to be compelling and to resonate with their own intuitive understandings and experiences. However, the ways in which the concept was operationalised in terms of the implementation of pedagogical practices varied. The difficulties inherent in the operationalisation are examined and recommendations for future work with teachers around the concept of science capital are developed.


Museum Management and Curatorship | 2016

Designing museum exhibits that facilitate visitor reflection and discussion

Morten Arnika Skydsgaard; Hanne Møller Andersen; Heather King

ABSTRACT This paper explores how four design principles (curiosity, challenge, narratives and participation) facilitate reflection and discussion among young visitors in the issues-based exhibition Dear, Difficult Body. The investigation is based on a mixed-method approach combining questionnaire and interview data. The implementation of design principles resulted in a variety of exhibits which variously prompted reflection and discussion on the part of visitors. Exhibits with narratives, for example, here defined as both personal and expert narratives, were found to be effective in facilitating personal reflection but also prompted discussion. Participation, defined as including both physical interaction with exhibits, and dialogic interaction between visitors, facilitated the sharing of ideas and feelings between visitors. Exhibits with elements of curiosity and challenge were found to attract pupils’ attention but also worked well with other design principles to engage the pupils in sustained reflection and discussion. While other contextual factors remain significant in determining visitor responses, this paper argues that the use of design principles can help create visitor experiences that correspond to exhibition aims.


Archive | 2011

Teaching Science in Informal Environments: Pedagogical Knowledge for Informal Educators

Lynn Uyen Tran; Heather King

Science educators in informal environments such as science centers and museums affect people’s learning experiences, as they create and implement the educational programs and exhibits to support science learning. The educators are the human interfaces between the institutions’ collections, the knowledge and culture that are represented, and the visiting public. Previous studies suggest that educators apply a range of strategies in their interactions with visitors that account for the learners’ levels of interest and understanding, and as such serve to scaffold the learning experience. However, it also appears that educators may not have an explicit understanding of how educational techniques may best be used. In addition, while educators have a diversity of knowledge and backgrounds resulting in arguably valuable varied expertise, such diversity may also be an impediment as staff do not share a common understanding and language for how they approach and talk about their work. We propose a common body of knowledge that can lead to a shared framework for practice, and provide the basis for pre-service and ongoing professional education among educators who teach science in informal environments. In this chapter, we discuss our six knowledge components underlying the pedagogical knowledge required for science education in informal environments that is shared with, but distinct from, teaching science in schools.


British Journal of Sociology of Education | 2018

Using Bourdieu in practice? Urban secondary teachers’ and students’ experiences of a Bourdieusian-inspired pedagogical approach

Louise Archer; Emily Dawson; Jennifer DeWitt; Spela Godec; Heather King; Ada Mau; Effrosyni Nomikou; Amy Seakins

Abstract This article discusses an attempt at a Bourdieusian-inspired form of praxis, developed and implemented in collaboration with nine London teachers, aimed at developing a socially just approach to engaging students with science. Data are discussed from nine months of classroom observations of nine secondary science classes from six inner London schools (approximately 200 students, aged 11–15), interviews and workshop data from the nine teachers and 13 discussion groups conducted with 59 students. The approach resulted in noticeable changes in practice, which were perceived by teachers and students to improve student engagement, cultivate a range of science-related dispositions and promote wider student participation and ‘voice’ in classes. Issues, limitations and possibilities for sociology of education are discussed.


Pedagogy, Culture and Society | 2018

Fostering critical teacher agency: the impact of a science capital pedagogical approach

Heather King; Effrosyni Nomikou

Abstract Teacher agency is considered key in shaping teachers’ professional identities and decision-making capabilities. We suggest that the concept of agency also constitutes a useful tool for evaluating the successful implementation of new teaching approaches. In this paper we discuss findings from a teacher professional development programme aimed at enabling science capital building approaches in the classroom. By applying the lens of agency we identified developments in teachers’ sense of purpose, mastery, reflexivity and autonomy. We also identified factors which appeared to either promote or constrain the acquisition of agency. The science capital pedagogy is underpinned by a social justice agenda. In supporting teachers to ‘tweak’ their practice in ways that provide more opportunities for more students to identify with science, we suggest that the agency fostered by the intervention may best be defined as critical teacher agency.


International Journal of Science Education | 2016

STEM in England: meanings and motivations in the policy arena

Victoria Wong; Justin Dillon; Heather King

ABSTRACT STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is widely used in science education. There is confusion, however, as to its provenance and meaning which is potentially problematic. This study examines the purpose of STEM practice in education in England and asks if there are differences in perceptions of STEM between science and mathematics educator stakeholders. The study’s contribution to the literature is its unusual focus on those who were responsible for making and enacting national STEM policy. A two-phase qualitative approach was followed comprising an analysis of government documentation together with semi-structured interviews with key contributors to the science and mathematics education discourse. Findings suggest that there is a disconnect between the interpretations of the science and mathematics educators with a danger-advantage dichotomy to participation in STEM being perceived by the mathematics educators. Early aims of the STEM agenda, including increasing diversity, gave way to a focus on numbers of post-16 physics and mathematics students. We conclude that if the term STEM is to continue to be used then there is a need for greater clarity about what it represents in educational terms and a wider debate about its compatibility with the aims of science education for all.


Museum Management and Curatorship | 2018

The potential of extended cultural residencies for young children

Jennifer DeWitt; Heather King; Denise Wright; Kate Measures

ABSTRACT Although years of research efforts have investigated learning benefits from museum visits, relatively less attention has been paid to young childrens experiences in these settings. Drawing on contextualist perspectives of learning, this paper seeks to address this gap, using two case studies to explore the experiences of children ages three to five who spent extended periods of time attending school in a museum setting. We draw on qualitative data from the evaluation of two museum-school partnerships, to investigate potential learning benefits of such experiences and elements that may have facilitated the outcomes observed. These two exploratory case studies indicate considerable potential for supporting language and communication skills in young children, as well as personal, social and emotional development. These outcomes appear to be linked to the rich nature of the experience, as well as its extended duration, which allowed it to be deeply child-centred, allowing for valuable learning from the museum environment.

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Emily Dawson

University College London

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Ada Mau

University of Roehampton

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