This report summarizes the evaluation outcomes of the Collaborative Project Management (CoPM) Institute project, a two-day convening centered on bringing proven project management skills and approaches in the for-profit world to the informal science education (ISE) community to support effective collaborations and successful outcomes. The CoPM Institute was conceptualized as a pilot effort to test the effectiveness of porting of tools and frameworks for collaborative project management from the business/for-profit environment to advance the following project goals:
Build the capacity of
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Amazon Adventure is an Innovations in Development project directed by Pacific Science Center in partnership with: SK Films; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Embodied Games; and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Tangled Bank Studios. The project deliverables produced during the grant period include a giant screen film, live stage presentation for use at informal science education (ISE) institutions, and educational resources.
The centerpiece of the project, the Amazon Adventure film, is a 45-minute giant screen film shown in
This annual report presents an overview of Saint Louis Science Center audience data gathered through a variety of evaluation studies conducted during 2018. This report includes information on the Science Center's general public audience demographics and visitation patterns, gives an overview of visitors' comments about their Science Center experience, summarizes major trends observed in the Science Center's tool for tracking educational programs, and presents highlights from three exhibit evaluations: front-end evaluation for GameXPloration, formative evaluation for augmentations to the
This annual report presents an overview of Saint Louis Science Center audience data gathered through a variety of evaluation studies conducted during 2017. This report includes information on the Science Center's general public audience demographics and visitation patterns, gives an overview of visitors' comments about their Science Center experience, summarizes major trends observed in the Science Center's tool for tracking educational programs, and presents highlights from front-end evaluation on the topic of infrastructures and summative evaluation of the GROW exhibition.
This annual report presents an overview of Saint Louis Science Center audience data gathered through a variety of evaluation studies conducted during 2016. This report includes information on the Science Center's general public audience demographics and visitation patterns, gives an overview of visitors' comments about their Science Center experience, summarizes major trends observed in the Science Center's tool for tracking educational programs, and presents highlights from evaluations of the new GROW exhibition and First Friday program.
This annual report presents an overview of Saint Louis Science Center audience data gathered through a variety of evaluation studies conducted during 2015. This report includes information on the Science Center's general public audience demographics and visitation patterns, gives an overview of visitors' comments about their Science Center experience, summarizes major trends observed in the Science Center's tool for tracking educational programs, and presents highlights from a Membership study, a formative evaluation of a new Makerspace exhibition, and program evaluation of a workshop for the
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation (Lemelson) at the National Museum of American History (NMAH) contracted RK&A to conduct a front-end evaluation of Game Changers, a new exhibition that will highlight stories of invention and innovation related to sports. The goals of the study were to identify visitors’ associations with sports and invention and explore their reactions to preliminary exhibition concepts and titles.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A conducted 40 in-depth interviews with walk-in visitors to NMAH. As much as possible, RK&A recruited
With funding from a Smithsonian Institution Youth Access Grant the National Museum of Natural History offered a program pipeline that would engage underserved Washington D.C. students in programming designed to encourage academic and career STEM interest. Beginning with collaboration with community educators, the pipeline funneled students into a Teen Night Out Science Night to interest them in science workshop series offered after school and on weekend and ultimately into volunteer and internship opportunities. This report provides detailed view of methods, analyses, results, and conclusions
RK&A conducted a summative evaluation of five climate change and resiliency programs at the Science Museum of Virginia (SMV). The summative evaluation was the culmination of a three-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—front-end and formative evaluations were completed in the two years prior. The goal of this evaluation was to test the extent to which the programs achieved the intended visitor outcomes defined in SMV’s Impact Framework.
How did we approach this study?
The summative evaluation focused on five programs—the Digital Dome theater’s
‘6 Degrees of Connection’ is an informative and memorable program that combines a one-hour Science On a Sphere® interactive presentation with a follow-up creative art activity – each aspect of which encourages middle school students to think of interconnections among phenomena on the planet, including the natural world and human activity.
The ‘6 Degrees of Connection’ program was developed by the Nurture Nature Center (Easton PA) in collaboration with the Maryland Science Center (Baltimore MD) through an extensive process of developing the concept, prototypes, and final program. Lehigh
The Field Museum contracted RK&A to conduct a summative evaluation of the Grainger Science Hub and the Discovery Squad Carts, two museum experiences facilitated by educators or trained volunteers. The goals of the study are to explore the extent to which visitors interact with programming in the Science Hub and at Discovery Squad Carts and the nature of those interactions, as well as visitor motivations and takeaways.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A conducted observations in the Science Hub and at Discovery Squad Carts to understand the nature of experiences at each. The
The Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies (COVES) aims to help science centers gather and share data to better understand visitors’ experiences. For the summative evaluation of COVES, the Museum of Science’s Research and Evaluation Department studied the program’s impacts on participating museums and museum professionals. Specifically, this evaluation was designed to:
Examine participants’ overall satisfaction with the collaboration and their likelihood to recommend it to others;
Understand the impact that COVES is having on Participating Institutions;
Assess whether