PROGRAM EVALUATION OF Climate Change and the Oceans Initiative: From Awareness to Action [2011] Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA The Monterey Bay Aquarium contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate four new programs that were part of the Climate Change and the Ocean Initiative: From Awareness to Action. To increase awareness of the impact of climate change on the oceans, the Aquarium developed three live shows and trained guides to engage visitors in discussions about the issue. The guide-visitor interactions occurred in Hot Pink Flamingos: Stories of Hope in a Changing Sea
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of the California Condor Rescue Zone (CCRZ), an immersive, facilitated play space designed for elementary school-age children. The summative evaluation explored how well CCRZ achieved its goals for children and adults. How did we approach this study? RK&A conducted naturalistic observations and exit interviews over a six-day period in February and March, 2011. Naturalistic observations documented the behavior of visitors and Zoo staff/volunteers in California Condor
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of the reinstallation of the Gallery of California History (History Gallery). Timing and tracking observations were used to examine visitors' experiences in the reinstalled History Gallery. A total of 108 observations were collected in February and March 2011. RK&A conducted timing and tracking observations of visitors to the History Gallery. Trained data collectors unobtrusively observed visitors and documented time spent in the exhibition overall, exhibits stopped at, and
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Oakland Museum of California
The goal of the study was to inform an interpretive and master planning process at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site by documenting visitor motivations, interests, experience, and learning outcomes of four key audiences identified by Eastern State: walk-in visitors (adult only), walk-in visitors (groups with children), prearranged adult tour groups, and school groups. Specifically, the report focuses on the following evaluative questions: 1) Who are the visitors to Eastern State and why do they come? (e.g., entry conditions such as demographics, motivations for their visit, expectations
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Jill SteinEastern State Penitentiary Historic SiteJes A. Koepfler
The BJC SportsWorks exhibition, a collaboration between the Saint Louis Science Center and BJC HealthCare, ran from June 2, 2006, through March 25, 2007, in the Science Center's Montgomery Bank Exploradome. The overall goal for the exhibition was to stimulate visitors to lead healthier lives by creating an engaging, fun, and memorable educational experience. The purpose of this summative evaluation is to assess the overall impact of the exhibition and to provide recommendations for future potential installations, with a focus on the visitor experience in the exhibition. Key issues examined in
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Elisa IsraelKaty LoftonPenny CraneSaint Louis Science Center
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) contracted with Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate Disease Detectives, a traveling exhibition made possible by a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources, a component of the National Institutes of Health. RK&A conducted a summative evaluation to investigate how visitors experienced the exhibition and how effectively the exhibition conveyed information about infectious diseases. Data were collected through standardized questionnaires and in-depth interviews.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Minnesota
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of Playing with Time, a traveling exhibition funded by the National Science Foundation. Data collection took place at SMM, the exhibition's first venue, in the spring and summer of 2002. The evaluation documents the scope of the exhibition's impact and effectiveness through timing and tracking observations and exit interviews.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Minnesota
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to simultaneously conduct a remedial evaluation of the exhibition Tissues of Life and its associated elements: the Web site with the same name, presentations at the Demonstration Station, and the What is Life?, play. The National Institutes of Health funded all elements. Data collection took place between July and October 2003. Three data collection strategies were employed: timing and tracking observations, uncued exit interviews, and telephone interviews. Additionally, to understand presenters' experiences
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Minnesota
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) was contracted by the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) to evaluate Tissues of Life, an exhibition funded by the National Institutes of Health. Data collection took place at the SMM in July and August 2004. The evaluation documents the impact and effectiveness of the exhibition through timing and tracking observations and exit interviews.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Minnesota
Creativity Workshop (working title) is planned to be an approximately 4,000 square foot permanent exhibit that is part of the Museum of Science's Technology Initiative. The exhibit aims to have visitors participate in interactive activities, allowing them to experience for themselves the engineering design process and creative problem solving techniques. The exhibit will be organized into three main areas: Inventors' Tools, which will introduce visitors to creative thinking tools that can be used to design new technologies and solve technological problems; Engineering Design which features
In 2005, the Exhibit Operations Department at the Museum of Science, Boston became concerned by the number of visitor comment cards that cited frustration with broken exhibits. As a result, they approached the Research Department to carry out a study to determine the visitors' perspectives of maintenance issues. The Research Department addressed this matter by seeking answers to the following questions: 1. Where is the discrepancy between what visitors and maintenance workers call broken 2. What factors related to broken exhibits frustrate visitors most? 3. What counts as broken in the eyes of
The NSF-funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) Network produced exhibits and programs designed to develop awareness, engagement, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology in the museum-going public. As part of the overall summative evaluation of the first five years of this grant, the Exhibits and Programs Study examines the measurable impacts of these public products on museum visitors. These exhibits and programs were developed during the first four years of the project as the NISE Network itself was growing and developing; the products show the strength