Megan Ennes

University of Florida | UF · Department of Natural History

There is increasing recognition that significant amounts of science learning take place over the course of one’s lifetime and much of this learning takes place outside of the formal educational settings. This learning is often facilitated by educators in these informal science settings. While much is known about educators in formal classroom settin...

The pressing nature of climate change and its associated impacts requires a climate literate citizenry. Climate change education in K-12 settings may provide a unique opportunity to make inroads towards climate literacy. However, many K-12 teachers avoid teaching climate change because they are uncomfortable with the subject or do not see its relev...

Museums play an important role in out-of-school learning. Many museums have begun offering distance learning programs to increase their reach and the accessibility of their collections. These programs serve a wide range of audiences from pre-kindergarten to lifelong learners. This descriptive study examined the current practices in museum-based dis...

This study examined factors that have been shown to predict middle school students' (grades 6–8) task values (utility value related to engaging with science in the future). Using structural equation modeling students' (N = 1015) responses to a career aspiration survey were analyzed to determine relationships among the factors. The model of best fit...

There is a growing need for science educators and communicators who can support public understanding of complex science issues. Furthermore, little is known about how to nurture career aspirations for teaching science. This study examined the influence of youth volunteer experiences on career aspirations through a lens of science identity. Twenty-o...

Climate change education is a key concept in pre-collegiate curricula across the world. However, teachers experience barriers to effectively teaching about climate change. One avenue for addressing some of the barriers is through scientist-teacher partnerships where a scientist offers real-world examples of how climate change is studied. This quali...

This systematic review investigated the literature between 1990—2021 to identify trends regarding science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) scientists conducting K-12 outreach. The review identified 50 publications that reflected the scholarship on scientist-led K-12 outreach. This includes literature on the effective strategies regarding s...

Train-the-trainer programs are an effective method for improving educators’ content knowledge and pedagogical skills. They also offer a way to reach more educators than by traditional professional development models. This manuscript shares the results of a retrospective study conducted with a cohort of informal science educators who participated in...

Emerging research is documenting the critical role of a family’s resources, beliefs, and behaviours related to science as factors that influence the career choices of youth. This exploratory study examined elementary aged youth participants’ perceptions of the value of science in their future after participating in a year-long, museum-based, family...

The aim of this chapter is to discuss current research examining family influences on the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) interests and career aspirations of their children. The role of science capital and family science habitus on the development of STEM interests is described. This is followed by a discussion of how paren...

Families play a vital role in the development of the science interests and career aspirations of youth. Of particular interest is how a family’s science capital and science habitus impact how children see themselves in relation to science. One aspect of science capital that has emerged as foundational in children’s levels of science self-efficacy a...

Although images play a significant role in environmental communications, few studies have empirically examined whether positive or negative images are more effective at engaging attention and promoting behavior change. We conducted a 6‐week public experiment at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida, to test whether viewing a...

Educators and researchers have been struggling for decades to isolate and measure the factors that contribute to science career decisions. However, there are limited instruments available to measure these factors, particularly across different educational levels. This study describes the adaptation and characteristics of the middle school NextGen S...

Extensive research shows that non-formal science education programs effectively build and sustain long-term interest and persistence in science careers. Framed by expectancy-value theory, this study examined the academic and career outcomes of students who participated in a multi-year volunteer program at a science museum. Twenty-one participants w...

Knowledge of the structure and function of the human heart is fundamental to accurately understanding human physiology. As a complex biological system, naïve conceptions abound regarding cardiac anatomy and physiology for K-12 learners and medical students alike. Textbooks and lectures, as well models and simulations, have had limited success in ai...

The Scientist in Every Florida School (SEFS) program was started in 2019 with a long-term vision to connect Earth systems scientists with public K-12 schools in Florida and therefore create long-term scientist-teacher part- nerships. SEFS fulfills teacher requests to create personalized, meaningful, and impactful experiences to support teacher peda...

There is growing evidence that science capital (science-related forms of social and cultural capital) and family habitus (dispositions for science) influence STEM career decisions by youth. This study presents reliability and validity evidence for a survey of factors that influence career aspirations in science. Psychometric properties of the NextG...

In 2020, 90% of museums around the world closed due to COVID-19. During this time, many museums transitioned their programs online. This descriptive study examines how museums engaged in online learning one year after COVID-19 closures. The authors present the results of a survey completed by 90 museum professionals engaged in online learning and c...

Despite attempts to diversify the informal science education workforce, institutions like museums, zoos, and aquariums continue to be places of privilege where few can afford to make education a life-long career. This exploratory study examined informal science educators’ perspectives on workforce equity, diversity, and professionalization. Through...

Distance learning has become an important tool in many fields of education. Museums, like other educational institutions, have been offering distance learning programs to their audiences for more than 30 years. This scoping study examined the published literature related to distance learning programs in museums to inform future research in this fie...

The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest warming marine areas on the planet: The industries and creatures that call it home face an unprecedented shift in their interactions and existence. Scientists, policy makers, and practitioners often want to communicate to the public about the seriousness of the situation to encourage mitigation and adaptation...

The Scientist in Every Florida School (SEFS) program was started in 2019 with a long-term vision to connect Earth systems scientists with public K-12 schools in Florida and therefore create long-term scientist-teacher partnerships. SEFS fulfills personalized requests to create meaningful and impactful interactions to support teacher pedagogy and st...

Although there has been some success with programmes that aim to increase STEM involvement by women and underserved minorities, science educators continue to seek ways to promote students’ interest in STEM. This study builds on social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the theory of enclothed cognition to assess the impact of wearing lab coats on 5...

Virtual presence describes a users’ perception of a virtual reality (VR) environment (VRE), specifically, of their involvement (sense of control within a virtual environment with minimal distractions) and immersion (multi-input sensory engagement providing apparent realism of objects and interactions). In education, virtual presence is a significan...

Although policy makers have made gains in getting students to consider future careers in science, women and many minorities are still underrepresented in science fi elds. Here we describe research conducted with fi fth grade students in a rural area of the southeastern U.S. that examined students' concepts of scientists' characteristics. The result...

This study examined the relationship between students' (N = 229) concepts of size and scale and students' achievement in science and mathematics over a 3‐year period. Size and scale are considered one of the big ideas in science that permeates disparate science and mathematics content areas, yet little is known about the relationship between studen...

This study examined the degree to which individual differences in students' (N = 232) concepts of size and scale are explained by factors such as students' innate sense of number, out-of-school science experiences, exposure to size and scale instruction, gender identities, and racial/ethnic identities. There is increasing emphasis being placed on t...