eprintid: 10205482 rev_number: 9 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/20/54/82 datestamp: 2025-03-03 08:33:01 lastmod: 2025-03-03 08:33:01 status_changed: 2025-03-03 08:33:01 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Shaby, Neta creators_name: Dillon, Justin creators_name: Peleg, Ran creators_name: Assaraf, Orit Ben-Zvi creators_name: Pattison, Scott creators_name: Pierroux, Palmyre creators_name: Barzilay, Maya creators_name: Grenon, Muriel creators_name: Steier, Rolf creators_name: Svarovsky, Gina N creators_name: Ramos-Montanez, Smirla creators_name: Wagner, Catherine creators_name: Quijano, María creators_name: Corbett, Amy creators_name: López Burgos, Viviana creators_name: Contreras, Diana title: Telling tales: the use of narratives in informal STEM settings ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B16 divisions: B14 divisions: J78 keywords: Stories; narrative-based pedagogy; informal learning environments; stem education note: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) orwith their consent. abstract: Background: For decades, narrative has had a prominent place in educational studies, both as a focus of research and pedagogy. However, most research was done with school (or pre-school) students in formal settings. Purpose: This paper emerged from a conference symposium that brought together five studies by researchers from across the world to discuss, debate and generate insights about the use of narrative in informal environments. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the findings to form design conjectures that can serve informal researchers and practitioners. Sample: We examine the use of narrative in five informal STEM environments: a science museum, a zoo, a virtual exhibition, an escape room, and home-based engineering activities. Design and methods: The five studies look at a variety of participants, including elementary and high school students, free-choice visitors, and preschool-aged children and their families. We describe the use of narrative in these learning environments and explore the ways narratives can potentially support and facilitate STEM teaching, engagement, and understanding. All studies use qualitative research approaches, utilizing interviews and observations, following interpretivist data analysis approaches. Results: The findings from the five studies were synthesized to form five design conjectures of how narrative support learning in informal STEM environments. The significance of this collection of studies is to showcase the varied use of narratives in informal STEM learning environments. date: 2025-02-22 date_type: published publisher: Informa UK Limited official_url: https://doi.org/10.1080/02635143.2025.2469065 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2365226 doi: 10.1080/02635143.2025.2469065 lyricists_name: Dillon, Justin lyricists_id: JDILL04 actors_name: Dillon, Justin actors_id: JDILL04 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Research in Science and Technological Education issn: 0263-5143 citation: Shaby, Neta; Dillon, Justin; Peleg, Ran; Assaraf, Orit Ben-Zvi; Pattison, Scott; Pierroux, Palmyre; Barzilay, Maya; ... Contreras, Diana; + view all <#> Shaby, Neta; Dillon, Justin; Peleg, Ran; Assaraf, Orit Ben-Zvi; Pattison, Scott; Pierroux, Palmyre; Barzilay, Maya; Grenon, Muriel; Steier, Rolf; Svarovsky, Gina N; Ramos-Montanez, Smirla; Wagner, Catherine; Quijano, María; Corbett, Amy; López Burgos, Viviana; Contreras, Diana; - view fewer <#> (2025) Telling tales: the use of narratives in informal STEM settings. Research in Science and Technological Education 10.1080/02635143.2025.2469065 <https://doi.org/10.1080/02635143.2025.2469065>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205482/1/Dillon_Shaby%20et%20al%20RSTE%20as%20submitted%20130624.pdf