Jessica Sickler
Biographic Data
| ID | 3081208 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jessica Sickler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jessica |
| FAMILY NAME | Sickler |
| SIGNATURE | SICKLER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Wildlife Conservation Society |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0572-3377 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Case Studies in Advancing Community Priorities Through Museum-Community Participatory Science Partnerships
Community engagement is central to both museum work and citizen science practice. However, both the museum field and the citizen science field have received calls to reexamine the purpose and function of community engagement in order to evolve from transactional relationships toward co-creative partnerships driven by the strengths, priorities, and needs of those communities. Community science—a collaborative approach that leverages scientific res…
Investing in the Lynchpin
Youth-led STEM programming depends on skilled adult facilitators who can support authentic teen leadership, yet professional learning for developing these specialized skills remains understudied. Through three cycles of design-based research, we iteratively developed and studied a professional development model that trained informal educators from museums, libraries, afterschool programs, and schools to launch Teen Science Café programs—a youth-l…
Reasoning about data in elementary school
The need for data literacy is an increasingly pressing priority in society, but most of the work in data-centred education has focused on developing skills at the middle school, secondary, and post-secondary levels, with little attention on the potential for engaging elementary-aged students in reasoning with and about data. This paper reports findings from a foundational study to explore the natural strengths, skills, and strategies that upper e…
Adapting Visual Thinking Strategies as a Tool for Evaluating the Impact of a Work of Public Art
This article presents the development and application of an approach for evaluating audience response to and meaning-making from large-scale public murals, created as part of an art-science-community engagement project. The project adapted Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) facilitation, a common technique in visual arts education, with a focus group style interview to investigate if the murals generated the intended meaning-making among members of…
Giant screen film and science learning in museums
The authors review the giant screen (GS) film literature to determine if the form has unique attributes that contribute to science learning. They find that four attributes are claimed to contribute to higher learning outcomes: the sense of immersion by reducing peripheral views to a minimum; first person perspective contributing to the sense of presence in the film; narrative structure; and sensory stimulation of mirror neurons that promote kines…
Enjoyment in zoos
Zoo visits are often described as fun outings by adults and family visitors alike, yet previous research into motivations, benefits and satisfaction with such outings has yet to describe what aspects of these experiences are sources of enjoyment. This paper reports results from a study that investigated how adult visitors define enjoyment in zoo experiences. Q methodology was used in order to address the inherent subjectivity of personal enjoymen…
Belonging at the zoo
The present study affirms previous research findings that volunteering satisfies personal needs but goes further by considering the factor of collective identity for volunteers and its consequences for them. The study specifically focused on older volunteers working at zoos. In the initial phase at Central Park Zoo 30 volunteers completed a short self-completion questionnaire. The second phase involved one-on-one interviews with 21 Bronx Zoo volu…
Dolphins in Popular Literature and Media
This review of how dolphins are portrayed in popular media (including literature, film, television, and music) reveals four themes that may influence public acceptance of current scientific research into dolphin cognition. These themes are: (a) dolphin as peer to humans, of equal intelligence or at least capable of communicating with or helping humans; (b) the dolphin as the representation of a romantic notion of ideal freedom in nature, embodyin…
Social Narratives Surrounding Dolphins
In preparation for development of an exhibit on the cognitive abilities of dolphins, the Wildlife Conservation Society sought to determine potential visitor's social perspectives about dolphin intelligence, and how these beliefs might influence acceptance of scientific information. The study reported here used Q methodology to identify these underlying social perspectives. The study of adults and the study of children each revealed three distinct…
Enjoyment in zoos
Zoo visits are often described as fun outings by adults and family visitors alike, yet previous research into motivations, benefits and satisfaction with such outings has yet to describe what aspects of these experiences are sources of enjoyment. This paper reports results from a study that investigated how adult visitors define enjoyment in zoo experiences. Q methodology was used in order to address the inherent subjectivity of personal enjoymen…
Belonging at the zoo
The present study affirms previous research findings that volunteering satisfies personal needs but goes further by considering the factor of collective identity for volunteers and its consequences for them. The study specifically focused on older volunteers working at zoos. In the initial phase at Central Park Zoo 30 volunteers completed a short self-completion questionnaire. The second phase involved one-on-one interviews with 21 Bronx Zoo volu…
Social Narratives Surrounding Dolphins
In preparation for development of an exhibit on the cognitive abilities of dolphins, the Wildlife Conservation Society sought to determine potential visitor's social perspectives about dolphin intelligence, and how these beliefs might influence acceptance of scientific information. The study reported here used Q methodology to identify these underlying social perspectives. The study of adults and the study of children each revealed three distinct…
Dolphins in Popular Literature and Media
This review of how dolphins are portrayed in popular media (including literature, film, television, and music) reveals four themes that may influence public acceptance of current scientific research into dolphin cognition. These themes are: (a) dolphin as peer to humans, of equal intelligence or at least capable of communicating with or helping humans; (b) the dolphin as the representation of a romantic notion of ideal freedom in nature, embodyin…
Social Narratives Surrounding Dolphins
In preparation for development of an exhibit on the cognitive abilities of dolphins, the Wildlife Conservation Society sought to determine potential visitor's social perspectives about dolphin intelligence, and how these beliefs might influence acceptance of scientific information. The study reported here used Q methodology to identify these underlying social perspectives. The study of adults and the study of children each revealed three distinct…
Enjoyment in zoos
Zoo visits are often described as fun outings by adults and family visitors alike, yet previous research into motivations, benefits and satisfaction with such outings has yet to describe what aspects of these experiences are sources of enjoyment. This paper reports results from a study that investigated how adult visitors define enjoyment in zoo experiences. Q methodology was used in order to address the inherent subjectivity of personal enjoymen…
Belonging at the zoo
The present study affirms previous research findings that volunteering satisfies personal needs but goes further by considering the factor of collective identity for volunteers and its consequences for them. The study specifically focused on older volunteers working at zoos. In the initial phase at Central Park Zoo 30 volunteers completed a short self-completion questionnaire. The second phase involved one-on-one interviews with 21 Bronx Zoo volu…
Giant screen film and science learning in museums
The authors review the giant screen (GS) film literature to determine if the form has unique attributes that contribute to science learning. They find that four attributes are claimed to contribute to higher learning outcomes: the sense of immersion by reducing peripheral views to a minimum; first person perspective contributing to the sense of presence in the film; narrative structure; and sensory stimulation of mirror neurons that promote kines…
Reasoning about data in elementary school
The need for data literacy is an increasingly pressing priority in society, but most of the work in data-centred education has focused on developing skills at the middle school, secondary, and post-secondary levels, with little attention on the potential for engaging elementary-aged students in reasoning with and about data. This paper reports findings from a foundational study to explore the natural strengths, skills, and strategies that upper e…
Adapting Visual Thinking Strategies as a Tool for Evaluating the Impact of a Work of Public Art
This article presents the development and application of an approach for evaluating audience response to and meaning-making from large-scale public murals, created as part of an art-science-community engagement project. The project adapted Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) facilitation, a common technique in visual arts education, with a focus group style interview to investigate if the murals generated the intended meaning-making among members of…
Case Studies in Advancing Community Priorities Through Museum-Community Participatory Science Partnerships
Community engagement is central to both museum work and citizen science practice. However, both the museum field and the citizen science field have received calls to reexamine the purpose and function of community engagement in order to evolve from transactional relationships toward co-creative partnerships driven by the strengths, priorities, and needs of those communities. Community science—a collaborative approach that leverages scientific res…
Investing in the Lynchpin
Youth-led STEM programming depends on skilled adult facilitators who can support authentic teen leadership, yet professional learning for developing these specialized skills remains understudied. Through three cycles of design-based research, we iteratively developed and studied a professional development model that trained informal educators from museums, libraries, afterschool programs, and schools to launch Teen Science Café programs—a youth-l…
Psychology (7 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Art (3 works) · Narrative (3 works) · Sociology (3 works) · Visual arts (3 works) · Aesthetics (2 works) · Animal and Plant Science Education (2 works) · Literature (2 works) · Mathematics education (2 works)