A Research Agenda for Learning in Natural History Settings

This research agenda is a living document, constructed in response to on-going field-wide conversations following the 21st Century Natural History Settings Conference at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. At the conference, natural history professionals explored new directions for museums and other natural history institutions, including zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens, and nature centers. The research agenda is intended to be edited, discussed, and fleshed out by the field as we work together and make progress. New research questions will emerge spurred by surprising findings, innovations in practice, and theory building. Newcomers to the field will bring fresh perspectives and challenges to conventional thinking. The research agenda is intended to support field-building and collaborative work, and thus to help catalyze and characterize an evidence-based, theory rich, and practice-based conversation about the future of natural history learning.