This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes the PBS NewsHour STEM Learning project, a broadcast and online science journalism and informal science education initiative to report breaking science news and cutting-edge STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) research and researchers to a national audience.
The Gallery of California Natural Sciences hosted four preview events before officially opening all sections. The target audiences for the evaluation of developing exhibits were Members and the general public with a focus on families. Researchers collected qualitative data in response to prototypes and developing exhibits for the Introduction and Oakland Sections, as well as for the developing Now and Then and Coastal Issues Lounges, and for the prototyping of live gallery animations. An exit survey was also administered to capture narrative, qualitative responses to visitors’ experience of
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Oakland Museum of CaliforniaMary T. Faria
resourceresearchMuseum and Science Center Programs
Front-line educators are arguably critical to the visitor experience at museums and science centers across the country. However, little research exists to inform staff facilitation strategies or professional development efforts. In this article, we describe the results of a qualitative study of 63 staff family interactions in a science center, focusing particularly on the role of adult family members. We observed three distinct phases of interaction, during which adult family members acted as gatekeepers to deeper staff engagement. The results suggest that in order to successfully facilitate
Negative attitudes toward math, characterized in part by dislike of, disinterest in, and low self-confidence in math, are so pervasive in the United States as to have become socially acceptable. Some science centers, as institutions dedicated to inspiring interest in STEM fields, have incorporated more opportunities for visitors to engage with math, but such exhibits and programs have been designed mainly for children and family groups. This mixed methods study examines the math-related attitudes and interests of participants in a popular form of science center-sponsored program for adults
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting held in Washington, DC. The project creates a STEM ecosystem in a severely under-resourced urban community. The Chicago Zoological Society, which operates Brookfield Zoo, is expanding a community partnership with Eden Place Nature Center in Chicago’s Fuller Park Neighborhood and offering a full suite of environmental science learning opportunities for teachers, youth, families, and adults. A research component is led by the University of Illinois at Chicago.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting. In this NSF International Research Experiences for Students project MSU students will travel to the Altai Republic and work with faculty and students at Gorno-Altaisk University to conduct research related to native language use in learning ecological sciences in informal settings.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It highlights the goals, audience, outcomes, and lessons learned for a pathways project to develop a model for producing scientific news reports in a variety of media formats on a range of topics of keen interest to rural and Native American communities in Montana. Cultural differences and geographic isolation influence opportunities to provide STEM content to these communities, yet these communities are facing perplexing decisions about exploitation of their environmental resources. The poster highlights the successes of
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting held in Washington, DC. The goal of the project is to establish practices for combining public participation in scientific research (citizen science) with DNA-based species identification (DNA barcoding) to scale-up and improve the accuracy of research projects that monitor animal and plant species in the sea and on land as they respond to climate and environmental changes.
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Mount Desert Island Biological LaboratoryKaren James
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting. It describes the radio and stage storytelling programs undertaken by the Center for Chemical Evolution, a CCI jointly funded by NSF and NASA.
Stereoscopic technology (3D) is rapidly becoming ubiquitous across research, entertainment and informal educational settings. Children of today may grow up never knowing a time when movies, television and video games were not available stereoscopically. Despite this rapid expansion, the field’s understanding of the impact of stereoscopic visualizations on learning is rather limited. Much of the excitement of stereoscopic technology could be due to a novelty effect, which will wear off over time. This study controlled for the novelty factor using a variety of techniques. On the floor of an
This poster presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting includes an explanation of the pathways project, the evaluation questions, partners, and plans for a next phase.