Embedded Research Practices: Practice as Process, Participatory Method, and Product in Informal Learning Research

Our museum-based participatory research (PR) project was a collaboration between researchers and educators in an out-of-school time STEM education program for young people that positions STEM as a tool for community social justice. This project drew on literatures on reflective practice in museums and on research-practice partnerships. Yet following existing approaches did not work for us. Aligning research and pedagogical practices, we co-created practical, reflective, and practice-based data generation methods, calling them “embedded research practices:” context-specific, emergent methods rooted in practice that served practice and research needs and centered shared axiological commitments. Four examples are outlined: rotating paired conversations, "What, Gut, So What, Now What?", graffiti walls, and four corners activity. Embedded research practices echo assessment in informal learning, emphasize the interaction of research and practice, call attention to the emergent and co-created nature of PR, and serve needs for professional learning for museum educators.