The University of California, Berkeley is developing "Windows on Research," a two-year experimental exhibit project at the Lawrence Hall of Science focused on engaging and informing the public about current scientific research. The project will develop and evaluate different media to translate the leading edge of nanotechnology research for the science center audience by featuring live demonstrations and presentations, physical- and technology-based exhibits, and Internet-based exhibits. Formative evaluation of all products, including ongoing public focus groups and surveys, will be used to establish which of the several media, alone or combined, work best to communicate research content. The project team also is developing new assessment tools to test usability and effectiveness of the artificial intelligence and technology-based components in conveying content. The results of this prototype effort to present ongoing research in a museum setting will be disseminated to the informal science education field. The PI, Marco Molinaro, and the team from the Lawrence Hall of Science will work closely with scientists representing research in a number of nanotechnology fields. These scientists bring expertise in the areas of materials science, chemistry, education, bioengineering, mechanical engineering, molecular and cell biology, geochronology and isotope geochemistry, and psychology.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marco MolinaroUniversity of California-BerkeleyDarrell Porcello
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Visitors to the Science Museum of Minnesota provided feedback on the books, How Small Is Nano? and Is That Robot Real? in order to assess the books and their ability to impart knowledge of nanoscience. The visitors, 63 adults in all, read one of the books to the child or children accompanying them, then answered a series of questions about their experience including their interest in and enjoyment of the book they read, as well as the age appropriateness of the book. The report compares and contrasts the two books throughout.
This report evaluates the program entitled “Treating Tumors with Gold” by looking at visitor feedback in an attempt to assess the success with which the presentation was able to educate the public on a particular study using nanotechnology. The exit survey instrument is included in the appendix of this report.
The Nanomedicine Explorer kiosk at the Museum of Science, Boston provides opportunities to learn about nanomedicine, nanotechnology, cancer biology, new research in cancer diagnosis and therapy, and the process of medical research from bench to bedside. This report is the formative evaluation of the prototype of this kiosk, presenting the results of visitor observations, exit surveys, and interviews. The findings of these data served to provide the Nanomedicine Explorer production team a basis from which to make improvements to the program, which was released as Version 1.0 in May of 2009
This report details formative testing of several Introduction to Nanomedicine prototypes including an early version of Treating Disease. These activities were conducted in February 2007.
This formative evaluation tested 3 prototypes for the Introduction to Nanotechnology in March 2006. Of the three prototypes tested Self Assembly continued forward to a final exhibit: Creating Nanomaterials. The concepts in Colored Glass prototype informed the development of Unexpected Properties.
Four nanomedicine prototypes were testing in May and June of 2006. The results from this evaluation helped with the development of the final exhibit of Treating Disease.
This report summarizes the formative testing of multiple Nanomedicine prototypes as well as a comparison of visitors who experience both the Nanomedicine prototypes and the Introduction to Nanotechnology prototypes.
A formative evaluation was conducted on Three Drops, an Immersive Digital Interactive (IDI), that allows visitors to interact with simulations of water at different size scales where different physical forces dominate. This evaluation revisits the exhibit after changes were made to address issues identified in the first series of formatives.
This documents the formative evaluation of Diffusion (aka Mixing Molecules), an immersive video interactive display demonstrating the collision of molecules.
This formative evaluation was conducted to see how the addition of an interactive media piece enhanced visitors' understanding of Nasturtium, a life sciences exhibit that demonstrates the water repelling properties of nasturtium leaves. The media piece allows the visitor to view leaf structures at progressively higher magnifications to better illustrate their scale and function. The interview questions used in this study are included in the appendix of this report.