Tips for Fostering Participatory Research in Informal Learning

This brief is for practitioners and researchers in informal learning who want to collaborate in participatory research. While we have learned from similar work (much of which is in formal education or large-scale projects), what we found didn’t always apply to us or our contexts. For instance, content (curriculum) and assessment look different in schools versus on a museum floor. While informal educators don’t have the pressure of high-stakes testing and accountability, they are often part-time workers and may not have as much theoretical training or professional development as formal educators. While deeply passionate and experienced, museum practitioners don’t have a huge body of research in their own languages. While theoretically and methodologically grounded, researchers may not have much practical experience with the contexts of informal learning.

This practice brief thus offers some tips focused on relationships and on shared equity and social justice commitments. These suggestions for collaborating provide touchstones we have returned to as we worked together in a museum-based research-practice collaboration in informal science learning.