ulum Curric Vitae
Rhiannon Crain Educat ion Department Univers ity of Californ ia at S ant a Cruz Mailing Address : 319 2 nd Street Apartm ent 2 Ithaca, N Y 14850
Education
University of California, Santa Cruz, California Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Science L earn ing Advanced to Candidacy June 2007 Dissertation: Non-conceptual science practices: How science museums communicate their historically institutionalized ideas about science and learning to visitors. (Advisor: Rodney Ogawa, Dept. of Education) University of California, Santa Cruz, California M.A. in Education with an emphasis in Science Learning June 2005 Mast ers Th esis: Enacted artifacts in two educational spaces: How people use and make objects, language, and ideas in two learning settings. (Advisor: Doris Ash, Dept. of Education) University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, magna cum laude May 2002 Honors Thesis: The Role of Culture in Human Adaptation (Advisors: Regis Ferriere, Dept. of Evolutionary Biology & Doug Taren, Dept. Public Health) Honors Grant Thesis: Insect Herbivory in Late Eocene Green River Formation Fossilized Leaves (Advisors: Dena Smith, Dept. of Geosciences & Karl Flessa, Dept. of Geosciences)
Work Experience
9/07-12/07
Successful sc affolding strategies in urban museu ms researcher: University of California Santa Cruz, CA Research Assistant for Doris Ash. Work with Head-start Families. Qualitative research developing and implementing a coding scheme for scaffolding moments during family visits to a large science center. Emphasis on learning moments between family members, through gesture, movement, and dialogue. Use of Studio Code Video Analysis software. Collaboration with Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, Florida.
1/05-3/05
Teach ing Assistant for Introduction to Theories of Learning Course: University of California at Santa Cruz, CA TA to Gordon Wells. Worked on development of course curriculum, including solo preparation of weekly section meetings (~ 60 students) emphasizing activity groups within the larger context of a 300 hundred-person lecture. Oversaw student projects to develop inquiry curriculum for teachers. Managed online content of the course through Knowledge Forum. 1
1999-2003
Education Specialist: Flandrau Scienc e Center, Tucson, AZ Created interactive, inquiry-based, program curriculum (in geosciences, marine biology, oceanography, and planetary sciences). Designed exhibits. Ran yearly summer camps for grades 2-8. Worked with school groups. Gave planetarium presentations. Acted as a liaison between University of Arizona researchers in the fields of physics, astronomy and planetary sciences for the science center. Promoted strong science content in programs through contact with university researchers. Centro de Estudios de Almejas Muertas (Laboratory for the Study of Dead Clams): University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Research Assistant to Karl Flessa and Dena Smith. Use of the recent fossil record to address important issues in conservation biology and environmental change, especially the evolution of plant-insect interactions. Curator of hundreds of leaf fossils, including organization and morphology. Worked with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science invertebrate and plant collections. Collected fossils in the Green River Formation of Western Colorado.
1998-2000
Research Experience
6/03-Present Ogawa Work Group: University of California, Santa Cruz, CA Focus on questions about mechanisms for organizational change in education. Emphasis on outof-school learning time as key to school success. Investigation into the institutional history of science centers in the U.S. Work on the impact of pedagogical innovation in science centers on school science curriculum. 9/03-9/07
Ash Lab: University of California, Santa Cruz, CA Ongoing work with Head-Start Mexican-descent families in aquaria. Dialogic analysis of family conversation for biological talk. Development of the Tool for Observation of biological Talk Over Time (TOBTOT) and subsequent design of small-scale follow-up studies. Investigated the role of authentic objects in science learning activity. Evaluation of object-use during science learning in aquaria.
12/04-12/05 Second Year Project: The roles of enacted artifacts in two spaces University of California, Santa Cruz, CA Collaborative data collection at a local elementary school, working with classroom teacher to develop and teach interactive science curriculum. Extensive literature review: Activity Theory, Institutional Theory, Artifacts in learning situations, classroom and museum organization. 1/03-7/03
The Aurora Foundation: Tucson, AZ Research on the outcomes of a high school program built to develop leadership, management, and entrepreneurial skills of women with mental physical, and learning disabilities. Collaborated on grant-writing. Managed high school interns. Ran evaluation of new classroom curriculum. Worked on policy statements for use at the congressional and district-level.
2
Awards
4/03-08 11/01 2/99 8/98-02
Fellowship from the Center for Informal Learning and Schools a Center for Teaching and Learning, National Science Foundation Van de Verde Scholar, University of Arizona Physics Department Honors Research Fellowship, University of Arizona, Honors College President's Award for Excellence Scholarship
Publications and Papers
Ogawa, R; Loomis, M.; Crain, R. (in press). Social construction of an interactive science center: The institutional history of the Exploratorium. Science Education. Ogawa, R. T., Crain, R., Loomis, M., & Ball, T. (2008). CHAT/IT: Towards conceptualizing learning in the context of formal organizations. Educational Researcher, 37(2). Ash, D., Tellez, K., & Crain, R. (2008). The importance of objects in talking science: The special case of English language learners. In K. Bruna & K. Gomez (Eds.), The Work of Language in Multicultural Classrooms: Talking Science, Writing science: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Ash, D., Crain, R., Brandt, C., Loomis, M., Wheaton, M., Bennett, C. (2007). Talk, tools, and tensions in informal science: Tool for observing biological talk over time. International Journal of Science Education, 29(12), 1581-1602. Crain, R., Loomis, M., Ogawa, R.T. (submitted). Under the Influence: How the cultural script of Hands-on is complicit in our definitions of what counts as science. In Bevan, B (Ed.), Learning in Out of School Time: What Counts as Math and Science? Loomis, M., Crain, R., Ogawa, R.T. (submitted). How institutional theory helps science centers think about change. Journal of Museum Education. Papers Presented (refereed only) Crain, R. (2008, September). Theory and Methods for Understanding Learning in Formal Organizations: The institutional dimension of activity. Symposium accepted to the International Society for Culture and Activity Research, San Diego, CA. Glass, R., Ball, T., Crain, R. (2008, March). Freire and Vygotsky: Praxis and the politics of knowledge. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, New York. Ogawa, R., Loomis, M., & Crain, R. (2007, August). The social construction of an interactive science center: An institutional history of the Exploratorium. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the European Science Education Research Association, Malmo, Sweden. Ash, D & Crain, R. (2007, April). Observing biological talk over time: A tool and some tensions. Paper presentation at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research on Science Teaching. New Orleans, LA. Ogawa, R; Crain, R; Loomis, M; Ball, T; Kim, R. (2006, April). Toward Conceptualizing Le...