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Project Descriptions

Exploring Public Engagement with Real-time Experimentation in Different Public Venues

July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2015 | Exhibitions
A team from Michigan State University, in partnership with six science, art-science, and art museum venues around the country and with the assistance of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, is implementing an EAGER project to conduct ongoing experiments on the chemical precursors to life as exhibit experiences for visitors to these venues. The experiments, to be run over the course of several months as the exhibit travels around the country, expand on the 1950s' work of Stanley Miller and Harold Urey, which continues to stimulate new investigations and publications, including experiments being conducted on the International Space Station. The experiments/exhibits share key features across the three different kinds of venues, allowing the team to study and compare the impacts on the various publics of engaging them in real-time science experiments. Two major goals are (1) to explore new ways to attract public interest in science by performing in public settings previously untried experiments on the chemical precursors to life, and (2) to investigate how the context of different kinds of venues and their visitor characteristics affect how visitors interpret the experience and what they learn. The team is also exploring how various data visualization representations can be designed to foster public interest and understanding. The intent is to develop an approach that has potential applications to other STEM content domains and expanding the reach to broader public audiences.

Funders

NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 1212365
Funding Amount: 295410

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Michigan State University
    Contributor
  • 2014 06 11 BOB alone
    Principal Investigator
    Michigan State University
  • Adam Brown
    Co-Principal Investigator
    Michigan State University
  • Maxine Davis
    Author
    Michigan State University
  • Discipline: Art, music, and theater | Chemistry | Life science | Nature of science | Technology
    Audience: General Public | Educators/Teachers | Museum/ISE Professionals | Scientists
    Environment Type: Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits

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