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Abstract The museum visit is an important part of elementary school science teaching. However, a divide exists between teachers, who require curricular accountability, and museums, who emphasize free‐choice exploration. Can a carefully constructed worksheet bridge this divide by providing free‐choice exploration of curricular topics during the museum visit? In the present study, a theoretical framework was constructed to inform the design of worksheets as free‐choice learning devices. This framework was used to analyze the design of an existing museum worksheet. Subsequently, curriculum‐related conversations among school groups visiting a museum were monitored in groups supplied with the worksheet and in control groups without. Overall, the worksheet complied well with design criteria synthesized from the free‐choice learning literature. Furthermore, the use of the worksheet increased the number and diversity of curriculum‐related conversations among school groups during the visit. This study documents that the use of carefully designed worksheets may increase students' exposure to curriculum during a museum visit, and thus may help build better bridges between teacher needs and museum free‐choice identities. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1389–1414, 2007
Mortensen et al. (Mon,) studied this question.