This thesis focused on career pathways for Millennials (defined as people born between 1980 and 2000) in science centers and museums. The research goals of the thesis included determining the best practices and policies to attract, engage and retain Millennials in science centers/museum field, and to determine the current key obstacles to young museum professionals' career advancement and to provide recommendations to address those issues.
This report is the result of a project to investigate through a sociocultural lens whether girls-only, informal STEM experiences have potential long-term influences on young women's lives, both in terms of STEM but also more generally. The authors documented young women's perceptions of their program experiences and the ways in which they influenced their future choices in education, careers, leisure pursuits, and ways of thinking about what science is and who does it. This report includes the questionnaire used in the study.
This paper presents research reports from visitor studies researchers in the UK, Australia, and Brazil. Authors discuss the progress of the audience research field in their respective countries.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Anne PenningtonCarol Scott
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This article is a summary of remarks at a special half-day session on April 28, 2000, part of a joint effort of the Informal Learning Strand of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching and the American Educational Research Association's Informal Learning Environments Research Special Interest Group. Topics included finding a unified voice and hinderances in the field of informal learning research.
This article discusses the goals, methods, and findings of a research study conducted by staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to evaluate their revised sea otter feeding program. The study evaluated the success of the volunteer training and peer coaching program as well as the effectiveness of the new program format in promoting the aquarium's mission.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Adrienne McGraw
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
In February 2013, the Atomic Heritage Foundation (AHF) brought together historians, sociologists and other scholars, as well as museum directors and thought leaders from the informal science education field to engage in a two-day discussion to explore ways to engage the public in the topic of the development of the atomic bomb in the context of history, society and culture. The workshop, titled "Transforming the Relationship Between Science and Society: The Manhattan Project and Its Legacy," had as its overarching goal to identify how the Manhattan Project might best be interpreted in a
In this article, VSA President Deborah Perry presents an overview of the work of the Visitor Studies Association over the previous few months. Topics include the Executive Committee, Conference Committee, resource development, Board development, professional development, and publications.
In this article, VSA President Mary Ellen Munley reflects on the "homecoming" she experienced at the past VSA annual conference in Columbus as well as the value of VSA activities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mary Ellen Munley
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This paper is based on comments made at "Exhibition Excellence: The 14th & 15th Annual Exhibition," a session at the American Association of Museum annual meeting in Portland, OR, May 20, 2003. This review focuses "attention to people" from quantitive data compiled by Whitney Watson of the Missouri Historical Society from the 2002 and 2001 submissions and the author's notes for 2000 and 1999.
This paper discusses how museums can encourage chaperones to facilitate deeper experiences for students during field trips. The authors describe how the California Science Center's ThinkSCIENCE! Pathways field trip program addresses this issue. Pathways asks chaperones to become facilitators by using "chaperone sheets," sets of materials containing gallery-specific questions, activities, and points of interest to help chaperones engage students in discussion. This article cites findings from a rigorous formative evaluation of these chaperone sheets and the program in general.
This article discusses a study that investigated teacher perceptions of group visits to a science museum in Taiwan. Thirty teachers who traveled with large groups were interviewed about two issues: the involvement of travel agents and the size of the group. The findings indicate that responsibility and administrative details were the primary reasons that teachers chose to travel with a larger sized group, or with assistance provided by a travel agency. Curriculum fit was not the first consideration in planning field trips. The study also found teachers' ability and attitudes to using museums
SciGirls CONNECT is a broad national outreach effort to encourage educators, both formal and informal, to adopt new, research-based strategies to engage girls in STEM. SciGirls (pbskids.org/scigirls) is an Emmy award-winning television program and outreach program that draws on cutting-edge research about what engages girls in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning and careers. The PBS television show, kids' website, and educational outreach program have reached over 14 million girls, educators, and families, making it the most widely accessed girls' STEM program available nationally. SciGirls' videos, interactive website and hands-on activities work together to address a singular but powerful goal: to inspire, enable, and maximize STEM learning and participation for all girls, with an eye toward future STEM careers. The goal of SciGirls is to change how millions of girls think about STEM. SciGirls CONNECT (scigirlsconnect.org) includes 60 partner organizations located in schools, museums, community organizations and universities who host SciGirls clubs, camps and afterschool programs for girls. This number is intended grow to over 100 by the end of the project in 2016. SciGirls CONNECT provides mini-grants, leader training and educational resources to partner organizations. Each partner training session involves educators from a score of regional educational institutions. To date, over 700 educators have received training from over 250 affiliated organizations. The SciGirls CONNECT network is a supportive community of dedicated educators who provide the spark, the excitement and the promise of a new generation of women in STEM careers. Through our partner, the National Girls Collaborative Project, we have networked educational organizations hosting SciGirls programs with dozens of female role models from a variety of STEM fields. The SciGirls CONNECT website hosts monthly webinars, a quarterly newsletter, gender equity resources, SciGirls videos and hands-on activities. SciGirls also promotes the television, website and outreach program to thousands of elementary and middle school girls and their teachers both locally and nationally at various events.