The Children's Museum of San Jose, in collaboration with developmental psychology researchers at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) and science and education staff of the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), is conducting a 48-month long project that focuses on children's use of evidence to construct scientific explanations. Key deliverables are: a 2,300 square-foot paleontology exhibit with an Evidence Central area three "evidence hubs" at the Children's Museum of San Jose, an educational Web site developed by UCMP, research on children's use of evidence conducted by Maureen Callanan's research group at UCSC, a "state of the children's museum field" study on varieties of perspectives on "science" and "evidence," and professional development experiences for staff at children's museums. Additional partners include the children's museums in Austin, TX, Madison, WI, and Providence, RI and local Vietnamese and Latino organizations in the museum's neighborhood. Randi Korn & Associates will conduct the program summative evaluation process and the "state of the field" study. The project identifies and will work to address two specific needs in the field: (a) a clearer sense of the developmental progression of children's understanding of evidence, and (b) a rigorous and systematic investigation of children's open-ended reasoning about evidence in a rich content domain (paleontology). The strategic impact goal is to build capacity in children's museums, enabling them to offer more evidence-based science learning experiences for their visitors.
Portal to the Public is a program designed to assist informal science education (ISE) institutions as they seek to bring scientists and public audiences together in face-to-face public interactions that promote appreciation and understanding of current scientific research and its application. Led by Pacific Science Center (WA), in collaboration with Explora (NM), the North Museum of Natural History and Science (PA) and the Institute for Learning Innovation (MD), the program model was implemented and evaluated at five additional museums and science centers during 2007-2011. The project goals were to create a flexible and scalable guiding framework that would support ISE institutions build relationships with their local scientific community, design professional development workshops for scientists, and create public program formats featuring scientists. The project included thorough research and evaluation of the guiding framework, dissemination process, and implementation at expansion sites. The Portal to the Public project team has produced an Implementation Manual as a guide for institutions planning to implement a Portal to the Public-type program, available for download at the project website (http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/Portal-to-the-Public/portal). It includes the Catalog of Professional Development Elements, a practical guide to creating and facilitating professional development experiences for scientists.
The Milwaukee Public Museum will develop two test stations: A Wetland/Wood Station and a Mobile Testing Station that will be used to evaluation how hands-on activities that incorporate scientific tools and methods can be applied to supplement the educational experience of traditional natural history museum dioramas. As a result of the MPM's work, visitors will become engaged in a "field experience" by means of techniques to encourage observing, recording of data, and hypothesizing using tools that a scientists might use to study the natural environment such as a hand lens, radio telemetry receiver, scales, rulers, and/or calipers. Visitors will also have the opportunity to investigate further in the "lab". Here visitors will use such tools as a computer, microscope, measuring grid, and they will be encouraged to experiment, infer, predict, and classify. The intent is to have the visitor discover how scientific information is used to support decisions in every day life. The development of these stations will be accompanied by considerable formative and summative evaluation studies. The results will be disseminated in order that other natural history museums with dioramas may replicate these ideas in order that visitors might move beyond the primary "animal identification" phase in their examination and enjoyment of dioramas.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William HackbarthW. Carl TaylorJames KellyAllen YoungMary Korenic
The National Audubon Society, the National Association of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Earth Force, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are identifying strategies and supports that move citizen science volunteers up the ladder of engagement from contributory to collaborative to co-creative participants in scientific research. The Citizens, Science, and Conservation project is testing strategies for engaging senior citizens (ages 60+) and underserved youth (ages 16-18) residing in Illinois, North Carolina and California in conservation-focused citizen science projects. This inter-generational project is engaging 45 seniors and 45 youth from three communities located near important bird areas (IBAs) in bird conservation activities and studying how to immerse them together in authentic scientific research. The goals of the project are to (1) learn how to better recruit and sustain deeper relationships with seniors and youth, (2) facilitate the roles seniors and youth can play as collaborators in field research and conservation science, (3) study ways that seniors and young people, as well as scientists and non-scientists, might interact more effectively while in training and in the field, and (4) study the cognitive and affective impacts of such collaborations upon both volunteers and professionals. Evaluation data on implementation, impact, and scale-up are being collected on three comparison groups of citizen scientists (new, core, and model). Audubon plans to disseminate a plan for implementing senior-youth paired collaborative and co-created citizen science programs to 2,100+ IBA programs in 42 states, 50+ nature centers and its 480 local chapters.
This project will be conducted by a team of investigators from North Carolina State University. The principal investigator proposes to examine the characteristics, motivations, in and out-of-school experiences, informal science activities, and career trajectories of 1000 science hobbyists and "master hobbyists." Master hobbyists are individuals who have developed science expertise and spend considerable free time engaging in science as a leisure activity. Master science hobbyists are found across most areas of science (e.g. birdwatchers, amateur astronomers). This research will determine who these individuals are, their career pathways, how they engage in science activities and what motivates, sustains, and defines their science interests. One of the particular goals of this research is to develop new understandings of how science hobby interests develop for women and underserved minorities. In the proposed research investigators will use the results of interviews and surveys to identify contextual factors that influence the motivational processes that, in turn, influenced choices of careers and contribute to ongoing choices in hobby and citizen science activities. Of interest in this study is how citizen scientists who are also serious hobbyists differ from master science hobbyists. Research on citizen scientists has shown that this group is highly motivated by collective motives (such as a desire to help others and further science), whereas this may not be the case with the master science hobbyist. Two groups will be sampled: a) birdwatchers and b) amateur astronomers. This sampling model will allow investigators to contrast their findings by: 1) those who have selected a science career versus those that did not select a science career, 2) those who participate in citizen science activities and those that do not, and 3) those who are birdwatchers (greater mathematical components) and those who are amateur astronomers (lesser mathematical components). Additional coding and analyses will examine any differences in the evolution of bird watching and astronomy hobbies. The results of this research will be examined in light of existing motivational and sociocultural models of career selection. This research will document differences in the perceived motivational elements that influenced master science hobbyists/citizen scientists to choose a science career or not. The results can inform federal, state, and local policies for supporting youth and adults engaged in free choice learning. Results of this research will inform the design of intervention/recruitment programs and ISE outreach initiatives. Potential audiences include ISE institutions (e.g. museums and science centers), organizations with links to STEM (e.g. scouts, boys/girls clubs) and pre- and college initiatives that seek to influence career choices and life-long science interests. The proposed cross-disciplinary approach will promote new understandings of complex issues related to motivation, retention, career selection, leisure activities, engagement with formal and informal educational environments, gender and ethnicity, communities of practice and changes in interests over time. Members of the advisory board have expertise in assessment and measurement and will work closely with the project team to conduct a detailed examination of methodologies and analyses at all phases of the project.
The New York Hall of Science will develop a major exhibition on quantum theory--one of the most important developments in physical science in this century and one which has not been significantly treated by science museums. This exhibition will be the first major museum program to introduce quantum theory and its applications to the public. Elements of the exhibit will include models of the atom, the puzzle of light, applications of the theory and, finally, the human story of the creation of a new theory. Numerous participatory exhibits will be developed in conjunction with the project so that visitors can learn by doing. Formative evaluation will be an integral part of this exhibit. This technique has recently been adopted by museums as a way to test exhibit prototypes with museum visitors and then redesign as necessary. A workshop will be held for museum personnel and a guidebook, Improving Exhibits Through Formative Evaluation, will be produced. This book will be the first complete description of the formative evaluation process and will be a valuable addition to the museum field.
Thirteen/WNET New York will develop and produce ten new episodes for a fifth season of Cyberchase. Broadcast daily on 340 PBS stations, Cyberchase has helped millions of children acquire a stronger foundation in mathematics. Cyberchase's content spans the 3rd-5th grade standards of the National Council of Mathematics. Ancillary materials, outreach and a highly popular Web site extend the learning and help make Cyberchase the sole mathematics media project available for the target age group of 8 to 11 year-olds. The new season will introduce a new campaign, "Math & Inventions: My Big Idea", to link mathematics and technology education and involve children in the invention process. These new programs will enrich the series' content while keeping viewers tuning in to the current shows. Plans include enhancing the Web site, building the inventory of multi-media outreach activities, strengthening the show's presence in after-school programs, and launching a new relationship with the museum community. Multimedia Research will conduct formative evaluation of two new elements to "My Big Idea" and a prototype of the online "Invention Machine." MediaKidz Research and Consulting (MRC) will conduct the pilot phase of a groundbreaking research study to evaluate the impact of varied media, and the interactions between the television series, Web site and outreach components, on children's mathematical thinking and attitudes toward mathematics.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sandra SheppardMichael TempletonBarbara Flagg
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Citizen science projects engage members of the general public in professionally directed research and participatory action research projects that investigate local environmental issues. The Cornell University - Laboratory of Ornithology is requesting funding to support a national conference and the development of a web-based Citizen Science Toolkit to inform these programs. The Toolkit will provide a framework for scientists and educators to develop, implement and evaluate independent citizen science projects. Deliverables include an invitational conference where best practices will be identified, in addition to the electronic toolkit that will include a Citizen Science Manual and instruments for assessing the effectiveness of projects. A virtual community of educators that develop and implement citizen science projects in a variety of STEM areas will be created. It is anticipated this work will improve the quality of citizen science projects across the country.
The Exploratorium will conduct a controlled, two-year research project, titled "Finding Significance," to study how different exhibit presentation techniques affect visitors' abilities to make meaning -- or find significance -- and how such techniques impact learning. The techniques will be applied to a varied sample of five exhibits commonly found in science and children's museums. The exhibit design techniques include a) sharing scientist and exhibit developer stories, b) sharing visitor stories, and c) modeling inquiry. Although each technique shows promise at eliciting personal significance, they have yet to be rigorously tested and applied to the same set of exhibits to compare relative strengths and weaknesses. Five baseline exhibits, plus four variations of each, will be tested on groups of visitors, including adults, children and mixed groups of both.
This study (1) creates a genre of exhibit-based, group scientific inquiry programs for general and low-income museum visitors, (2) determines key program characteristics that lead to learning, (3) conducts a controlled experiment to assess the levels and nature of actual transfer of such skills to other exhibits and to visitors' lives beyond the museum visit. A team of researchers and educators creates, revises, and studies Exhibit Investigations for general and underserved visitors at the Exploratorium. During Investigations, educators coach visitors in inquiry skills that are heuristics for engaging with exhibits or physical phenomena beyond the museum. Pre- and post-assessments of learner interactions with a novel exhibit are recorded and analyzed for evidence of transfer of the inquiry skills introduced during the Investigations. Exit and follow-up interviews determine long-term impact. Two versions of the Investigations-with and without mnemonic cards summarizing inquiry skills-are compared with two control conditions in a randomized block design with four conditions and 50 groups per condition. Intellectual Merit The project broadens the focus of current research on the learning of scientific inquiry skills beyond the school setting. A science museum with engaging and interactive exhibits constitutes an ideal and understudied setting for research on inquiry learning by groups. This project . describes the nature of inquiry learning in an informal learning environment . generates principles for using audience diversity to enhance learning identifies specific inquiry skills that are relevant and effective in this environment . assesses levels of transfer of such skills by visitors . compares such transfer to control groups receiving no mediation or content-based mediation The exhibit-based, group inquiries adapt best practices from formal education for use in the multigenerational, free-choice learning environment of a museum. The research yields a series of effective programs and a set of theoretical principles that account for their efficacy. Broader Impacts Project results and learning principles will be disseminated to academic, museum, and lay audiences. In total, the project serves approximately 1,000 Exploratorium visitors. The project will is presented at national and local conferences such as AERA, ASTC, VSA, and AAM, reaching museum researchers, practitioners, and a broad educational research community. Articles are submitted to peer-review journals in the fields of museum studies and science education. Project updates and the final report are posted on the Exploratorium Web site (visited by 15 million annually). Outcomes are disseminated to the Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS), an initiative of the Exploratorium, Kings College London, and UC Santa Cruz. A non-technical publication, distributed through the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), informs science centers around the world.
Cornell University will utilize planning grant funds to conduct front-end research to inform a major citizen science effort targeting Latino families in six major US cities. Partnering organizations include the New York Restoration Project (New York), Aspira of Illinois, Inc. (Chicago), Youth Policy Institute (Los Angeles), Chicanos Por la Causa, Inc. (Phoenix), the Children's Museum of Houston (Houston), and Aspira of Florida, Inc. (Miami) Project deliverables for the planning effort include culturally responsive research and subsequent dissemination of findings. The Garibay Group will create profiles of partner communities and conduct focus groups with potential project participants to examine attitudes towards science, interest in participatory science activities, tools (online bird identification, data entry, and data visualization tools), and technologies. The research will also include an analysis of existing data from interviews previously conducted by project partners. The research results will provide insights into effective strategies for engaging Latino audiences in citizen science efforts.
The Exploratorium is testing new methods of using Internet-based programming to increase the public understanding of current scientific research. Exploratorium staff, working with a group of advisors, will assess the current status of projects that focus on conveying information about research. They then will develop and test a prototype website. The exploratory research will examine such questions as: What information about research is important and critical to convey to the public? How do you build a Web presence that can rapidly accommodate new findings? What is an appropriate oversight process to assure inclusion of appropriate research? What are sufficient update intervals? How does such a Web site build an audience? How can the Web effort be coordinated with other PUR projects? How can the Web site provide opportunities for public input and discussion? How do you develop buy-in and participation from researchers? Is the additional interpretation/annotation sufficient to give the public a deeper level of understanding? These planning and prototyping efforts will be coordinated with other simultaneous Public Understanding of Research planning projects.