Heather Toomey Zimmerman
Biographic Data
| ID | 97960 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Heather Toomey Zimmerman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Heather Toomey |
| FAMILY NAME | Zimmerman |
| SIGNATURE | ZIMMERMAN H T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Pennsylvania State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7402-4126 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Making Learning Personally Relevant
This study seeks to better understand the unique sensemaking assets that rural families weave into their outdoor learning experience while using a location‐based mobile app focused on healthy habitats for solitary bees. The project included mobile augmented reality (AR) technologies, which are increasingly used as educational tools at informal learning institutions, including nature centers, to deepen visitors' learning experiences. Guided by the…
Place as creative partner
Conventional educational research often sidelines the role of physical environments, viewing them merely as settings. This study challenges this notion by exploring the symbiotic relationship between a university theater group and an arboretum. Through empirical ethnographic analysis, we investigate creativity and placemaking, emphasizing collaborative dynamics between human and non-human elements. Our findings reveal how imaginative engagement a…
Place‐based learning processes in a family science workshop
This study addresses intergenerational learning processes in informal settings by investigating families engaging in science talk and practices during a water quality science workshop led by local science experts. As part of a larger design‐based research study, this analysis examines how modified Think–Pair–Share discussion prompts within the water quality workshop curriculum supported the families' (a) sensemaking strategies and (b) place‐based…
Using youths’ personal DNA data in science camps
This study is a two‐iteration design‐based research project that investigated how youths’ science learning and socio‐emotional attitudes toward science were influenced by a summer camp with a personal genetics approach. A multidisciplinary team developed a 2‐week camp curriculum that included personal DNA tests, family genealogy projects, and fitness tracker data. The learners included 120 youths, aged 10–14, in six camps held in three sites. Dat…
Digital badging systems as a set of cultural tools for personalized professional development
Supporting Observing-on-the-Move with Proximity-Based Technology
This research employs mobile, proximity-based technologies to create opportunities for children to engage in place-based science learning in an arboretum. We present data from a mobile, iBeacon-enabled learning experience to support wayfinding and observing the biodiversity of tree fruit with 84 youth working in 27 small groups (4th graders on a field trip). Data collected include log files, observational field notes, and learners’ photographic a…
A Methodological Case Study with Mobile Eye-Tracking of Child Interaction in a Science Museum
Exploring the outdoors together
Connecting out-of-school learning to home
Facilitating Place-Based Learning in Outdoor Informal Environments with Mobile Computers
Intergenerational learning at a nature center
Using a sociocultural framework to approach intergenerational learning, this inquiry examines learning processes used by families during visits to one nature center. Data were collected from videotaped observations of families participating in an environmental education program and a follow-up task to draw the habitat of raptors. Based on a thematic analysis, researchers developed two themes about the learning processes at play in the nature cent…
Parents, Science, and Interest
We develop the Parental Facilitation of Children's Interests in Museum Environments as a framework and tool for research and practice that highlight the role of parents in the development of youths' interests. We create the framework by combining empirical data from our research study with three theoretical perspectives from the psychological and informal learning literatures: (1) interest development, (2) parental roles to support learning outsi…
Parents, Science, and Interest
We develop the Parental Facilitation of Children's Interests in Museum Environments as a framework and tool for research and practice that highlight the role of parents in the development of youths' interests. We create the framework by combining empirical data from our research study with three theoretical perspectives from the psychological and informal learning literatures: (1) interest development, (2) parental roles to support learning outsi…
A Methodological Case Study with Mobile Eye-Tracking of Child Interaction in a Science Museum
Intergenerational learning at a nature center
Using a sociocultural framework to approach intergenerational learning, this inquiry examines learning processes used by families during visits to one nature center. Data were collected from videotaped observations of families participating in an environmental education program and a follow-up task to draw the habitat of raptors. Based on a thematic analysis, researchers developed two themes about the learning processes at play in the nature cent…
Parents, Science, and Interest
We develop the Parental Facilitation of Children's Interests in Museum Environments as a framework and tool for research and practice that highlight the role of parents in the development of youths' interests. We create the framework by combining empirical data from our research study with three theoretical perspectives from the psychological and informal learning literatures: (1) interest development, (2) parental roles to support learning outsi…
Facilitating Place-Based Learning in Outdoor Informal Environments with Mobile Computers
Intergenerational learning at a nature center
Using a sociocultural framework to approach intergenerational learning, this inquiry examines learning processes used by families during visits to one nature center. Data were collected from videotaped observations of families participating in an environmental education program and a follow-up task to draw the habitat of raptors. Based on a thematic analysis, researchers developed two themes about the learning processes at play in the nature cent…
Exploring the outdoors together
Connecting out-of-school learning to home
A Methodological Case Study with Mobile Eye-Tracking of Child Interaction in a Science Museum
Supporting Observing-on-the-Move with Proximity-Based Technology
This research employs mobile, proximity-based technologies to create opportunities for children to engage in place-based science learning in an arboretum. We present data from a mobile, iBeacon-enabled learning experience to support wayfinding and observing the biodiversity of tree fruit with 84 youth working in 27 small groups (4th graders on a field trip). Data collected include log files, observational field notes, and learners’ photographic a…
Digital badging systems as a set of cultural tools for personalized professional development
Place‐based learning processes in a family science workshop
This study addresses intergenerational learning processes in informal settings by investigating families engaging in science talk and practices during a water quality science workshop led by local science experts. As part of a larger design‐based research study, this analysis examines how modified Think–Pair–Share discussion prompts within the water quality workshop curriculum supported the families' (a) sensemaking strategies and (b) place‐based…
Using youths’ personal DNA data in science camps
This study is a two‐iteration design‐based research project that investigated how youths’ science learning and socio‐emotional attitudes toward science were influenced by a summer camp with a personal genetics approach. A multidisciplinary team developed a 2‐week camp curriculum that included personal DNA tests, family genealogy projects, and fitness tracker data. The learners included 120 youths, aged 10–14, in six camps held in three sites. Dat…
Place as creative partner
Conventional educational research often sidelines the role of physical environments, viewing them merely as settings. This study challenges this notion by exploring the symbiotic relationship between a university theater group and an arboretum. Through empirical ethnographic analysis, we investigate creativity and placemaking, emphasizing collaborative dynamics between human and non-human elements. Our findings reveal how imaginative engagement a…
Making Learning Personally Relevant
This study seeks to better understand the unique sensemaking assets that rural families weave into their outdoor learning experience while using a location‐based mobile app focused on healthy habitats for solitary bees. The project included mobile augmented reality (AR) technologies, which are increasingly used as educational tools at informal learning institutions, including nature centers, to deepen visitors' learning experiences. Guided by the…
Psychology (9 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Mathematics education (6 works) · Educational technology (5 works) · Environmental Education and Sustainability (4 works) · Mobile device (4 works) · Mobile Learning in Education (4 works) · Multimedia (4 works)