In this paper, the Franklin Institute's Ann Mintz discusses the managerial challenges associated with evaluation projects. Mintz explains how evaluators teeter on a continuum serving as both as artists and educators throughout the evaluation process. She cites evidence from an ongoing project at the Franklin Institute called the The Franklin Institute Computer Network that serves seven categories of museum visitors.
This paper discusses the obstacles that the Philadelphia Zoo confronted when they attempted to evaluate and develop a series of interactive activity kits called "Explore-A-Zoo." The kits aimed to encourage families with children aged 3-9 to interact together in front of exhibits while at the same time improve their science process skills. This paper describes the challenges staff encountered while interviewing preliterate 3-5 year olds as well as highlights two data collection methods that they found successful.
In this paper, Swarthmore College's Christine Massey surveys methods from other fields, particularly developmental psychology, to gain insight into how one might allow young children to be direct participants in visitor evaluation and research studies, with a special emphasis on investigations involving learning. Massey discusses the special challenges in working with young children during evaluations.
In this paper, Pedro J. E. Casaleiro of the University of Leicester (UK), Department of Museum Studies, discusses methodology and findings from a comparative analysis of audiences for "The Return of the Living Dinosaurs" exhibition in four separate locations: London, Paris, Spain, and Portugal. The exhibit consisted of robotic dinosaurs (animatronic models).
In this article, Jennifer B.J. Cave discusses methods and findings from an audience research project completed for use both the strategic planning process and the design concept of a new Children's Museum, part of the Canadian Museum of Civilization complex in Ontario.
In this article, Linda Snow Dockser, evaluator at the Please Touch Museum for Children, discusses research methods and findings from an evaluation of its "Play: Past, Present, and Future" exhibit. Researchers evaluated how the exhibit theme was interpreted and personalized by the audience and the extent to which the exhibit encouraged adult/child interaction.
In this article, Linda A. Black, Exhibits Planning Director at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, discusses methods and findings from the Kellogg Demonstration Project. The project directly involved museum staff in the instrument design and data collection for evaluation of the Museum's new "Mysteries in History" exhibit. Also, a computer software package known as "Looking Closely" was developed to assist with data collection and analysis.
In this article, Linda A. Black, Exhibits Planning Director at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, demonstrates the usefulness of "quick and dirty" evaluation work by sharing key findings from Dr. Robert Wolf's series of one-month "mini studies."
In this article, Leonie J. Rennie and Terence P. McClafferty, researchers at Curtin University of Technology in Western Austalia, discuss their efforts to study how young children use interactive exhibits designed from 3 to 7 year olds. The authors analyze play and its relationship with learning.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Leonie J. RennieTerence P. McClafferty
In this paper, Nancy T. Haas of the Please Touch Museum discusses Project Explore, a new research initiative that explores learning in children's museums. Project Explore is a collaborative effort of two organizations, PleaseTouch Museum in Philadelphia and Harvard's Project Zero in Cambridge. Using a dual research approach, Please Touch Museum researchers investigated exactly what it is that children are learning and how to best enable or enhance their learning process; while the Project Zero team studied how children engage in exhibits by looking at the Entry Points approach to learning
Children feed alphabet letters to a talking baby dragon, drive a New York City fire truck, paint on a six-foot art wall, and crawl through a challenge course in PlayWorks™ at the Children's Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) in New York. Manhattan’s largest public play and learning center for early childhood marries the skills that children need to succeed in kindergarten with fun stuff that kids love. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded the project through a 2006 Museums for America grant to support the museum as a center of community engagement and lifelong learning. “PlayWorks™ is a joyful place for learning science, math, reading and other things. We incorporate fun and learning into the whole design to create a scaffold of learning. Families come to the museum to supplement preschool experiences,” said Andy S. Ackerman, CMOM’s executive director. The museum also offers parents, sitters, and other care-providers guidance on engaging their children with the exhibit. Based on the concept that children’s learning and personal growth is rooted in play, the 4,000-square-foot space is divided into five learning areas: Language, Math and Physics, Arts and Science, Imagination and Dramatic Play, and Practice Play (for infants and crawlers).
The National Partnerships for Afterschool Science (NPASS) Project was led by The Center for Science Education (CSE) at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) in Newton, MA in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) in Berkeley, CA, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NPASS project approach relied on a professional development training and mentorship model to build the capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) to lead high-quality, hands-on science and engineering activities in their afterschool programming. An overarching project research question