The Science Museum of Minnesota conducted the StretchAbility program on January 25th, and February 1st, 2010, and the Children’s Museum of Houston conducted the program on November 10th, 14th, and 25th, 2009. A total of 20 paired adult and child groups provided feedback through a survey designed to measure their engagement with and comprehension of the activity. After the activity, evaluators targeted participating children 8 or younger who were verbal for the interview, and gave a survey to the child’s parent to complete. Paired surveys were used due to the lower verbal nature of the younger
In this article, Joan Krevlin, Partner at BKSK Architects, discusses the "Preschool Playground" exhibition at the New York Hall of Science, where children discover the environment and learn principles of science through sensory exploration. Krevlin outlines the background, planning process, and design of the unique exhibit.
Sesame Workshop, in collaboration with the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum and the Beijing Planetarium, is planning a planetarium show and complementary materials for preschool-age children and their families, teachers and other caregivers. The planetarium show will be designed for use in the United States and China and will have the following goals: -- promoting positive attitudes among young children towards science; -- providing age-appropriate information about astronomy in an engaging, entertaining format; and -- fostering am understanding of one another among children in the two countries. During the planning phase, there will be three face-to-face meetings among the principals: at the Beijing Planetarium, at Sesame Workshop in New York, and at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. The purpose of these meetings will be to determine: -- What is the appropriate educational content for the show and complementary materials and what does research with children say about it? -- How does this type of project best reach preschool audiences? -- Is there a need or opportunity for producing alternative language or dialect versions of either the English or Mandarin versions of the show and complementary materials? -- What issues or problems affect the design of the show and complementary materials? -- What are the implementation issues? Particular attention will be given to exploring how the project might include cross-cultural information in the show and complementary materials, and how the cross-over characters (Da Naio appearing in the English version; Big Bird in the Mandarin version) might be included in the design.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. This project will develop and research an integrated children's media and early childhood educator professional development strategy to prepare preschoolers with social-emotional skills that provide a foundation for later math learning success. The social-emotional skills include persistence, risk-taking, regulating anxieties, and collaborating to solve problems. Media components include Peg+Cat television episodes, videos, games and apps distributed through PBS broadcast and online. The integrated professional development model is designed to impact these educators' understanding of math and develop their skills for fostering in children a positive math mindset. Additional resources include a new Peg+Cat summer day camp at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The project partners include a media company, The Fred Rogers Company; researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and St. Vincent College; and the evaluator, Rockman et al. This project is unique in its focus on integrating social-emotional skills with early math learning and educator skill development. It will fill an important niche in the research literature and has the potential to impact media practice which is undergoing significant change as new digital tools and technologies become available for learning. Both standardized and researcher-developed measures will be used to assess learning outcomes, including early childhood educators' attitudes and quality of instruction, as well as children's interest and engagement in math. The research design includes iterative data collection to inform the development and refinement of the professional learning for teachers. The mixed methods approach will include classroom observations, interviews and focus groups with educators, and parent questionnaires. Key questions include: does exposure to Peg+Cat positively relate to children's use of social-emotional skills during math learning activities? Does educators' exposure to the professional development training improve their attitudes and abilities to infuse math instruction with social-emotional skills? Does having an educator who received Peg+Cat training impact children's engagement and interest in math?
Disparities in engineering participation and achievement by women and individuals from traditionally underserved racial and ethnic groups have been persistent. Approaches outside the context of university and school reform, including approaches to supporting interest development in early childhood, have not been fully considered by educators and policymakers. This AISL Pathways project will focus on engineering, which has emerged as a critical topic in the STEM education field and a prominent aspect of educational standards and policies. Building on a strong empirical and theoretical base, it will lay the foundation for future research efforts to advance the field's limited understanding of early childhood engineering-related interest development, especially through parent-child interactions; create research tools for studying engineering-related interest in young children; and identify effective strategies for supporting long-term engineering interest pathways. "Head Start on Engineering" is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. Through an asset-based approach and authentic engagement with families and community organizations, Head Start on Engineering will pilot research and program activities that are sensitive to the constraints of low-income families and build on the resources and funds of knowledge within these communities. It will test and refine an innovative, theoretical model of early childhood interest development. The overall design of the pilot study will be mixed-method and short-term longitudinal, with data collected before, during, and after program implementation from participating families. Quantitative measures will allow for consistent comparisons across groups and within families, while qualitative data will help explore complex factors and processes hypothesized in the theoretical framework and related to program implementation. This work will allow the team time to address unanswered questions and issues around how to feasibly operationalize key aspects of the revised theoretical model in preparation for more extensive, longitudinal and experimental investigations as part of the next phase of the project. Understanding and honoring parents' beliefs, knowledge, and experiences is central to this project. In developing and implementing both the programs and research activities, the team will adopt culturally responsive and asset-based perspectives. The Pathways project is a collaboration between the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of lifelong, free-choice learning for all communities through research, practice, and policy initiatives; Mt. Hood Community College Head Start program; the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), a nationally renowned science museum; and the Center for STEM Education at the University of Notre Dame. The project involves families with four-year-old children who attend the Head Start program. The collaboration between educators, community organizations, and researchers and the integrated approach to research and program development will ensure that study findings translate to practical and effective education strategies and that future research efforts are well-grounded in the realities of practitioners and learners.
Family groups comprise a significant percentage of the museum visitor population, and many programs are created specifically for young learners (Borun, 2008). One such learning environment is that of planetaria, where both live and pre-recorded programs are presented to introduce concepts in Earth and Space Science to young children. Pacific Science Center’s Preschool Trip to the Moon live, interactive planetarium program was used as a context for exploring families’ motivations for attending a planetarium show, their reactions to the show, and in particular what children learned from the show
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), in partnership with the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), proposes to develop the Zoo in You: Exploring the Human Microbiome, a 2,000 square foot bilingual (English and Spanish) traveling exhibition for national tour to science centers, health museums, and other relevant venues. The exhibition will engage visitors in the cutting edge research of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and explore the impact of the microbiome on human health. To enrich the visitor experience, the Zoo in You project will also produce an interactive bilingual website and in-depth programs including science cafes and book groups for adult audiences. JCVI will provide its expertise and experience as a major site for HMP genomics research to the project. In addition, advisors from the Oregon Health & Science University, Multnomah County Library, the Multnomah County Health Department, ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum, Science Museum of Minnesota, and other experts will guide OMSI's development of exhibits and programs. The Institute of Learning Innovation in collaboration with OMSI will evaluate the exhibits, programs, and website. Front-end, formative, remedial, and summative evaluation will be conducted in English and Spanish at OMSI, ScienceWorks, and tour venues. The exhibition's target audience is families and school groups with children in grades 4-12. Latino families are a priority audience and the project deliverables will be developed bilingually and biculturally. The Zoo in You will tour to three venues a year for a minimum of eight years. We conservatively estimate that over two million people will visit the exhibition during the national tour. This project presents a powerful opportunity to inform museum visitors about new discoveries in genomic research, to invite families to learn together, and to present and interpret health-related research findings for diverse audiences. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): Our research education program, the Zoo in You (ZIY): Exploring the Human Microbiome, is relevant to public health because it will inform exhibition visitors and program participants about the significant new research of the NIH's Human Microbiome Project (HMP). Visitors will make connections between basic research, human health, and their own personal experiences. The bilingual (English and Spanish) ZIY exhibits and programs will present research finding and public health information in enjoyable and engaging ways to reach diverse family and adult audiences.
Over 200 zoos and aquariums in North America are accredited members of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), with a shared vision of the future: a world where all people respect, value and conserve wildlife and wild places. Through programs & experiences that reach millions of people each year, we hope to encourage caring and empathy towards all living things, but we lack the tools that are needed to assess whether – and how – we’re reaching this goal. The overall goal of this 2 year collaborative project is to create tools that zoos and aquariums can use to assess whether they’re meeting their goal of encouraging caring and empathy towards wildlife. Project partners (Woodland Park Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, & Seattle Aquarium) aim to develop, test and share tools that can be used by accredited zoos & aquariums to assess whether their educational programs are having the desired impact of encouraging children’s empathy towards animals. To better inform our understanding of the empathic experience and the role it plays in human relationships with animals, an advisory team comprised of conservation psychologists and evaluation practitioners in the zoo and aquarium field, has been formed to aid in this two year project.
Found in gravesites. Buried in the backyard. Lurking and scaring neighbors at Halloween. The stuff of legendary Hollywood horror films. But, in reality, bones are so much more. They are the living, growing framework of life. Bone Zone, a dynamic traveling exhibit to be developed by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, will let visitors explore the mystery inside the body so long hidden by skin, fur or other outside covering. By capitalizing on the fact that visitors bring a portion of the exhibit into the gallery with them (their own bones), these visitors will learn that they too have bones and that their bones live and grow along with them. A great need for this type of exhibit exists because most people do not identify the skeleton as one of the body's major functioning systems. The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are most commonly cited. However, the skeletal system provides key functions. Visitors will learn the key functions this system fulfills as well as learn that bones are alive - most youth have the misconception that their bones are dead. The exhibit will showcase myriad human and animal bone scenarios in well-developed contexts that will help visitors understand the information presented. Interactive, hands-on activities will be highlighted in Bone Zone. Visitors will see the skeletons of other animals, and play a game where they learn the difference between bone and pseudo-bones, such as scales. In another area, visitors will observe bone cells in a microscope, see a large-scale depiction of a bone, and watch the bone cells at "work." The exciting and innovative 5,000-square-foot exhibit will be showcased at the museum beginning in 2001. The goals of the Bone Zone project are to (1) Develop an interactive, traveling exhibit about bones to promote an understanding of the skeletal system and bone-related diseases among children and the public; (2) Develop curriculum materials and workshops for teachers; and (3) Stimulate interest in health science careers.
Fusion Science Theater (FST) uses elements of playwriting to make informal science education more engaging as well as educational. FST shows incorporate an overarching scientific question that is asked and then answered by a series of participatory exercises and demonstrations. The shows also use “embedded assessment” of learning, which asks children to “vote their prediction” both before and after these activities. The FST National Training and Dissemination Program had three major goals: (1) To develop and implement a Performance Training Program to train professional audiences to perform
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Madison Area Technical CollegeJoanne Cantor
The article focuses on children's makerspaces and the maker movement in Canada. Topics include the Nova Scotia government's idea to distribute 3D printers to libraries to create public makerspaces, which are collaborative meeting places that blend craft and high technology to foster do-it-yourself (DIY) solutions, the Maker Club in Kitchener, Ontario owned by entrepreneur Cam Turner and his son Owen, and the organization Scoperta, maker Jim Akeson's version of the organization Curiosity Hacked.
This report summarizes the evaluation findings of the second year of the Science Beyond the Boundaries Early Learners Collaborative (ELC). The three-year project, funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), connects science centers and children’s museums to enhance early learner programming. In Year Two, the ELC brought together 16 institutions to collaborate directly through regularly scheduled conference call discussions. During these discussions they shared their program experience, ideas on early childhood programs, and their thoughts on current early learner