CHECK FOR A NEW MESSAGE 1/2/14 about our first meeting

1. Course Objectives: There are three major objectives for the practicum
2. Students will have first hand experience working in the children's museum, witnessing different aspects of the processes of learning in informal contexts.
3. Students will reflect on their experiences, through journal writing and reading research to gain insight into the nature of the process learning process and their role in supporting it. 
4. Students will gain an appreciation of the research strategies used to study informal learning.

Readings: A set of reading will be available on the web site in Readings page

Grading:  Your grade will derived from three sources of assessments.  First and foremost is the site assessment of your work on site by the Treehouse staff.  This will include your involvement and attendance as a volunteer. The second will be your performance in the practicum discussions with me.  This grade will include your not only your involvement and attendance at meetings, but also your review of relevant research. Finally, your grade will depend on two written assignments.  The first assignment is to keep a journal reflecting your experiences at the Treehouse. The second assignment is a final paper, due at the end of the semester, which involves applying the reading and discussions to your actual experiences. 

Distribution of Grades:
Site Assessment.............................40%
Practicum Meetings..........................20%
Papers......................................40%
         Journal..................10%
         Final Paper..............30%

Practicum Structure: The over-arching question, which will be a theme running throughout our discussions, is, "How do children learn in museum (or other informal contexts) and how can we promote their learning"  Your practicum experience will be geared for you you experience and think about this questions.  Although some of the answers to this question will come from your experience at the Treehouse, additional answers will come from a series of readings which will emerge though our bimonthly meetings.  At these meeting, you will first be asked to discuss your activities over the past two weeks highlighting issues you have recorded in your personal journals.  Then we will address the reading(s) assigned for the week.  Before the end of the meeting, we will discuss the issues to focus upon  readings for the next meeting.

Class Policies:  To read the policies of the class, click here.