Science teachers’ interactions with science centres: an exploratory study into professional development benefits and how they occur

Abstract

This research investigated the benefits that science teachers experienced to their professional development as a result of their interactions with science centres. Such interactions included accompanying field trips and incursions, undertaking formal professional development and field work programs, and self-guided visits. Through narrative, semi-structured interviews with ten participants this study revealed that teachers experienced multiple benefits to aspects of their intellectual, attitudinal, or behavioural professional development. The interpretive analysis highlights the roles that teachers undertook throughout these interactions, enabling an understanding of how these benefits occur..