A case study in collaboration in science education: integrating informal learning experiences into the school curriculum

This is a study of a collaboration between multiple stakeholders in science education for the purpose of creating educational field trip experiences. The collaboration involves four major facets of science education: formal education at the elementary and university levels, informal education, and educational research. The primary participants in the collaboration include two elementary school teachers, a scientist from a local university, an informal educator from an environmental education site, and the researcher acting as a participant observer. The coming together of these different sides of science education provided a unique opportunity to explore the issues and experiences that emerged as such a partnership was formed and developed. Strongly influenced by action research, this study is a qualitative case study. The data was collected by means of observation, semi-structured interviews, and written document review, in order to provide both a descriptive and an interpretive account of this collaboration. The final analysis integrates a description of the participants’ experiences as evidenced in the data with the issues that arose from these experiences. The evolution of the collaborators’ roles was examined, as was the development of shared vision. In this study, there were several factors that significantly affected the progress towards a shared vision and a successful collaboration. These factors include time, communication, understanding others’ perspectives, dedication and ownership, as well as the collaborative environment. Each collaborator benefited both professionally and personally from their participation in the collaboration. In addition, the students gained cognitively, affectively, and socially from the educational experiences created through the collaboration. Steps, such as working towards communication and understanding others’ perspectives, should continue to be taken to ensure the collaboration continues beyond the term of the current key participants.