The University of Minnesota Extension (UME) contracted Garibay Group to conduct a summative evaluation of the Driven to Discover program (often referred to as D2D by youth participants and adult leaders) to assess how adult leaders in Informal Science Education (ISE) settings used the curriculum and citizen science projects as conduits to engage youth in scientific inquiry.
David Reider has composed of the summative evaluation for the OUTSIDE project. Overall, the project exceeded expectations, in development of the app, numbers of participants and activities; it provided research on areas of science learning that have not yet been fully explored: how participants interact with technology in the field to better inform their learning experiences, and provided a range of data collection tools and protocols to help others further inform the field. The project also developed a model that is easily replicable elsewhere for others to help students experience nature
National Parks are full of interesting and unusual STEM features which often intrigue visitors whose questions are answered by park personnel. In addition to the natural features, there are often researchers in the parks gathering data and conducting experiments. Park personnel are not apprised of these studies yet are often questioned about them. This collaborative project's goals are to derive a mechanism to educate the park personnel so they can respond to the visitor's inquiries. Collaborators include the National Park Service (NPS), TERC, Winston-Salem State University, and the park personnel at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The plan is to work through the park interpreters who are employees of NPS and often are the voice for explaining the park's natural features. For this project, the interpreters and researchers will collaborate on the explanations of the science and TERC will work with the interpreters on interacting or educating the public visitors on the research. This is a pilot study to determine how best to bridge the scientists and their research to the park visitors. Evaluation on all elements in this study will be done by Char Associates and the Institute for Mathematics and Science Education at New Mexico State University. The results of this study are to determine the issues in explaining the research to the park interpreters and thence to the park visitors. If successful, it is anticipated that a model will be developed in collaboration with the NPS for use in other National Parks.
This document is a “think piece” about why and how informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education institutions could be placing amusing, novel experiences in people’s paths to create memorable STEM experiences embedded in their everyday lives. The report focuses on what we learned about creating interactive STEM exhibits in public spaces outside of a science center. That said, the content can inform hands-on learning experiences on other topics, as well, within the limits outlined.
This report, prepared by Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) presents evaluation findings for the final year of the Environmental Exhibit Collaborative (EEC)—made up of the EcoTarium, The Discovery Museum (TDM), ECHO, and the Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine (CMTM). Evaluation in the final year was comprised of periodic journal entries by individual participants, environmental scans completed by each institution, and a Learning Circle facilitated by Randi Korn & Associates. Journal entries reflect a select number of participants’ responses to specific aspects of the EEC, like workshops
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Betsy Loring