Instrumental learning? Object lessons in recapturing past science teaching

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This CDA necessitates an object-focussed overview of the historical development and use of scientific teaching objects (specifically laboratory equipment, didactic models, and toys) to inform methods of museum interpretation and to suggest how objects for science education could be more effectively designed and employed.My initial research will be two-fold: using the Science Museum and Leeds collections to build an understanding of the range of design and use, as well as using a literature review to identify initialcontextual information about the changing methods and purposes of science education. My literature review would study the history of education, the development of education theory andthe psychology of learning. To investigate how and why practical work is integral to the efficacy of science education; how it has fluctuated in different contexts; how theory influenced the change; and if other research has identified how changes affected students' learning. The literature review will enable me to determine the possibility of extricating and appraising the impact of practical interactions from the impact of broader changes in science education. In addition, I will observe how research makes recommendations about changes to practical science education and about science communication with different audiences, considering how I can effectively employ the project findings to influence and create meaningful and dynamic interpretation for the Science Museum.From this foundation, I will identify specific objects for in-depth analysis: relative to both the significance of the object in tactical learning as well as the availability of evidence of use in archivesand documentation. I will identify remarkable changes in objects that consistently have been used to deliver specific concepts (such as microscopes) as well as records for those specific objects, archives of the makers and institutions, and accounts from educators and students- using this information to gauge the impact of change on student learning and experience. Considering the history of science education, if the resulting survey missed notable changes to practical education, I would seek specific objects that reflected these changes. For example, I would interrogate the efficacy of the Nuffield Science Foundation and its influence on discovery learning, using the Science Museum's kits developed by Philip Harris Ltd. as well as the related archives, predominantly based at King's College London College Archives. Hence, a meaningful timeline of change and impact would be established.I would use the resulting range of data to ascertain the relationship between design, theory, and practical application, and to track how changes to this relationship resulted in changes in learning. I would seek to identify, in my thesis, where specific practical adjustments improved learning and where methods of integrating practical learning within a larger learning strategy succeeded. From this, I would seek to develop suggestions for impact. I would be particularly interested in exploring the possibilities of recreating a range of practical interactions to study impact on contemporary learners - via the Science Museum or the Brilliant Club - with a view to practically establishing recommendations for teaching as well as ways to create dynamic museum interpretation.