Our Year 3 formative evaluation of Go Botany, a four-year NSF-funded project focused on botanical learning, centered on tracking the continued development and the launch of the Go Botany Simple Key, which contains botanical data on more than 1200 native plants in the New England region. The project is a collaboration between the New England Wild Flower Society and three partnering institutions: The Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, VT; The Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, Maine; and the Yale Peabody Museum on Natural History in New Haven, CT. During Year 3, the Go Botany Simple Key was
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Judah LeblangNew England Wild Flower Society
In August 2009, the Program Evaluation and Research Group (PERG) at Lesley University contracted with the project's PI at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) to evaluate My Dome: Defining the Computational and Cognitive Potential of Real Time Interactive Simulations in an Immersive Dome Environment, an NSF funded grant. The project focuses on creating interactive experiences in immersive virtual environments, and builds off previous work the PI and co PIs have done in developing films and immersive experiences in domes and traveling domes. The project includes staff from the Carnegie Museum
This exhibition was created to attract and appeal to families with children based on a major strategic planning effort targeting a specific audience. Summative evaluation was commissioned to reflect on the original goals for the exhibition as well as to inform future decisions regarding institutional and exhibition planning for family audiences. Several complementary research methods were used to address a variety of questions about family experiences in Splash Zone: two methods of exit interviews (281 family interviews where parents were asked most of the questions, and 55 interviews with
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Jeff HaywardMonterey Bay AquariumJolene Hart
Ice Planet Earth (IPE) was a three-year NSF-Funded grant, with a focus on building awareness and understanding of polar processes and designed to coincide with the International Polar Year, which took place from March 2007-March 2009. A key feature of the IPE project was the development of 'Ice Worlds', a planetarium style film designed for both general audiences and for students/youth. IPE was a collaboration between the University of New Hampshire, and the following institutions: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh; the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences; the Louisiana Art
This is the second annual report of the formative evaluation of a three-year project, Community STEM Outreach, funded by the Office of Naval Research. Focus of the project is the Youth Exploring Science (YES) Program at the Saint Louis Science Center. The report addresses the following questions: "Why conduct an evaluation?", "Who are the YES teens?", "What happens in YES?", "What are the program's outputs?", "What are the program's impacts?", ""What are the different points-of-view that stakeholders have about YES?", "What areas are important to stakeholders and program success?", "What
In October 2009, the Tennessee Aquarium began an ambitious program, Connecting Tennessee to the World Ocean (CTWO), funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CTWO consists of several individual projects, all intended to increase the ocean literacy of Aquarium audiences and to promote their adoption of an ocean stewardship ethic. This evaluation report summarizes the extent to which the Aquarium accomplished these goals over the 3-year project period. The five project components and their key associated evaluation findings follow. 1. Classroom-based activities
The Materials Research Society (MRS) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate a traveling exhibition developed by the Ontario Science Center, funded by the National Science Foundation. The evaluation documents the impact and effectiveness of the traveling exhibition and its associated Web site using timing and tracking observations, exit interviews, peer review, and telephone interviews with Web site users and non-users a few weeks after their visit to the exhibition. How did we approach this study? worked with MRS to identify its goals and objectives for the exhibition
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Materials Research Society
resourceevaluationMuseum and Science Center Programs
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination is a National Science Foundation funded project which developed a national traveling exhibition on science and technology themes depicted in the Star Wars movies. The Museum of Science, Boston (MOS) developed the exhibition in collaboration with Lucasfilm Ltd. and Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative (SMEC). The exhibition will travel to members of the SMEC in Los Angeles, Portland, Fort Worth, St. Paul, Columbus, Philadelphia, and Boston. Other venues will display the exhibition after the Collaborative tour. Tisdal Consulting was contracted to
The Great Immensity is a play with music created by the New York-based theater company, The Civilians. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), this production explores humans' relationship to the environment focusing on critical issues of conservation and climate change. It premiered at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KC Rep) from February 17 through March 18, 2012. This summative evaluation employs the Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects (Friedman 2008) to assess the play and its ancillary programs' impact on adult and student audiences
In August 2009, The Ohio State University at Lima (OSU) received a three-year award from the NSF Division of Research on Learning Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) Program for It's About Discovery (IAD). IAD was a partnership between OSU Lima, the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and regional rural schools in Northwest Ohio and North Carolina that equipped teachers to teach new Ford Partnership for Advanced Study (PAS) science curriculum, focused on the theme of Working Towards Sustainability. Ford PAS is focused on transforming teaching and learning
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Rucha LondheOhio State UniversityUniversity of North Carolina GreensboroMarkeisha GrantColleen ManningIrene F Goodman
The purpose of this summative report is to document the project outcomes in relation to the proposed goals. The Nanooze exhibit installation project achieved all four goals and continues to inform the public about nanotechnology in its installation at Epcot. Surveys of visitors show acquisition of content related to the exhibits, as detailed in this summative report.
The Koshland Youth Research Lab (Research Lab) began as an eight-month pilot program funded by the DEK Family Fund at the San Francisco Foundation. The project (initially implemented in 2011) used frontend and formative evaluation to develop the program in line with the needs and interests of its target audience of Hispanic youth. The summative evaluation took place in the last month of the program (December 2011). Researchers from UXR Consulting, Inc. were engaged to conduct all phases of the evaluation. This report includes the interview protocol and surveys used in the study.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Jes A. KoepflerKoshland Science Museum