A New Method of Understanding Learning in Science Centers: Context Diagrams of Learning Experiences

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a new method for analyzing learning experiences in science centers and to explore the method's applicability. The authors have developed a tool, context diagram of learning experience (CoDiLE), that allows them to illustrate the relationship between a visitor's learning with a science exhibit and the various contextual factors present in the science center. CoDiLE illustrates contextual factors within three context categories (personal, sociocultural, and physical) that may affect a visitor's learning with science exhibits and shows how the contextual factors are linked to each other and to cognitive or affective learning. CoDiLE's applicability was explored through case studies of 3 middle-school students who visited 3 science centers in Seoul, Korea. The case study showed that contextual factors could affect learning either positively or negatively depending on the links that they made with other factors. In addition, distinctive patterns of contextual factors and links among factors for each student were identified. CoDiLE appears to be a useful method to investigate an individual's learning processes associated with contextual factors within a science center.

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