SCIENCE MUSEUMS AS PEDAGOGICAL RESOURCE: TASK BASED FACILITATION

The significance of science museums/centres as dynamic learning environments is being recognized progressively while the research on their incorporation in the teacher education programmes still needs considerable focus when referring to the discourse on quality component in science education through non-formal resources. This qualitative study explores the experiences of pre-service teachers in a science museum and in a science centre where they worked with some pre-designed tasks. The tasks were context based and were meant to stimulate their science process skills, reasoning and reflective abilities. The data was collected during the visits through observation, written responses, field notes, individual and group interactions. Another set of data was collected as narratives after a gap of six months to find out the impressions and reflections still persisting in the minds of the prospective teachers. The findings brought forth the insights into the contribution of science centres and science museums as potent pedagogic and learning resources through their experience based learning in an open and dynamic environment. The diverse nature of exhibits stimulated the prospective teachers' thinking towards creative pedagogy. The findings have implications at policy, planning and strategization levels to incorporate these resources as integral component of the teacher education programmes.