Assistant Curator, Museum Education
Phone: 352-273-2006
Email: mennes@floridamuseum.ufl.edu
Dr. Megan Ennes is the Assistant Curator (Professor) of Museum Education in the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. She is the head of the Museum Education Research Group. A former museum educator, her research focuses on the use of online learning in museums as well as how to support the professional development of museum educators. She also examines how museums can support the science interests and career aspirations of students who have been historically underrepresented in science.
Ennes spent much of her career as an educator in an aquarium where she also developed curricula and professional development opportunities for teachers. She is the Science Director for the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation.
Ennes received her Ph.D. in science education with a focus on informal science education at North Carolina State University. She completed her undergraduate degree in marine biology and her master’s degree in environmental studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Dr. Ennes leads research on museum education. If you are looking for information on educational programs within the Florida Museum of Natural History, please visit the Visit page or the For Educators page.
Projects:
- Museum Educators’ Levels of Self-Efficacy
- Research Infrastructure: Moving and Improving the Florida Museum of Natural History Fish Collection: Dr. Ennes will be leading the broader impacts and outreach components of an NSF grant intended to update and innovate the museum’s ichthyology collection. Dr. Ennes will be facilitating science communication training for the scientists involved in the project. Along with the Scientist in Every Florida School Project, she will facilitate two summer teacher workshops to engage educators in the fishes collection to develop new lesson plans related to taxonomy. Dr. Ennes will also be examining scientists’ perceptions of engaging the public in their collections as part of their Broader Impacts activities.
Publications:
Ennes, M., Jones, M. G., Cian, H., Dou, R., Abramowitz, B.*, Bordewieck, K.*, Ideus, K.* (2022, in press). Family Influence and STEM Career Aspirations. In R. Tierney, F. Rizvi and K. Ercikan (Eds). International Encyclopedia of Education 4e. Elsevier.
Ennes, M. (2021). Museum-based distance learning programs: Current practices and future research opportunities. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. 22(2). 242-260. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v22i2.5225 (open access)
Jones, M. G., Chesnutt, K., Ennes, M., Macher, D., Paechter, M. (2022). Measuring science capital, science attitudes, and science experiences in elementary and middle school students. Studies in Educational Evaluation. 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2022.101180