The New Educator, 6:196–211, 2010 Copyright © The City College of New York ISSN: 1549-9243 online 196 Address correspondence to Maria S. Rivera Maulucci, Assistant Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University, 336B Milbank Hall, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mail: mriveram@barnard.edu Readers are free to copy, display, and distribute this article as long as it is attributed to the author(s) and The New Educator journal, is distributed for non- commercial purposes only, and no alteration or transformation is made in the work. More details of this Creative Commons license are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. All other uses must be approved by the author(s) or The New Educator. The New Educator is published by the School of Education at The City College of New York. Teaching Science in the City: Exploring Linkages between Teacher Learning and Student Learning across Formal and Informal Contexts MARIA S. RIvERA MAUlUCCI and JENNIE S. BRoTMAN Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, USA This paper describes the Science in the City seminar, an innovative approach to in-service and preservice science teacher development that bridges formal and informal science learning contexts. Drawing upon the tenets of design and evaluation research, the study focuses on the teachers’ presentations of evidence of student learning from trips they made to the museum. The indings show linkages between teacher education, teacher practices, and student learning through (a) novel use of the museum as a place to learn science connected to mandated science curricula and (b) clear, reciprocal connections between students’learning in the museum and in the science classroom. We discuss instances of teacher learning falling short of equity goals and examine how structured and unstructured student engagement strategies were employed at meso and micro levels. In crafting science teaching practices in urban public schools, in-service and preservice teachers face many challenges. These challenges include navigating the current policy context of No Child left Behind (NClB) that has led to a heightened focus on literacy and mathematics instruction, often at the expense of quality time and resources for science (Rivera Maulucci, 2010). In addition, teachers must meet