The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the world's largest experimental facilities, where thousands of scientists and engineers from over 100 countries collaborate to shed new light on the workings of our universe. As LHC research, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson, continues to hit the news in future years, it will be important for educators in informal science institutions to understand how to engage their visiting public's interests and curiosities and shape their understanding regarding this leading edge research. Funded by
In this brief article, VSA President Ridgeley Williams reflects on the past VSA conference in Raleigh, North Carolina and discusses planning for the next conference in Minnesota.
The Yellowstone Park Foundation is partnering with Yellowstone National Park (YNP) to develop and build a visitor education center at Old Faithful. Selinda Research Associates (SRA) worked with staff from Yellowstone's Division of Interpretation to plan and conduct a front-end evaluation of the exhibits for the new center. The evaluation was grounded in naturalistic methodology and used a variety of methods to triangulate on park visitors understanding of and reactions to a variety of issues. These methods included in-depth interviews with visitors both before and after their visits and card
The VOSI questionnaire elicits details of learners’ ideas of what scientists do in the production of valid scientific knowledge. Understanding about scientific inquiry is an integral component of scientific literacy, along with NOS. The VOSI is useful alone, or in combination with the VNOS to gain in-depth insights into respondent’s epistemological views of science. The VOSI targets aspects unique from, but complementary to, the VNOS instrument.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Renee' SchwartzNorman G. LedermanJudith S. Lederman
This survey was designed to assess preservice teachers' perceptions of how their mentoring in science teaching has influenced their ability to teach science. The tool measures personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback as factors that comprise beneficial mentoring for science teachers.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Peter HudsonKeith SkampLyndon Brooks
This instrument includes a pre-test and post-test on students attitudes towards astronomy. Four factors, including affect, cognitive competence, perceived value, and perceived difficult of astronomy are assessed.
Internet Attitude Scale (IAS) is a 40-item Likert-type one-dimensional inventory for measuring attitudes towards the Internet. Furthermore, this inventory was created to measure the Internet users' preferred and perceived specific Internet attributes.
This summative evaluation study examines visitors' experiences of the "Plastics Unwrapped" exhibit at the Burke Museum of Natural History, Seattle, WA. The exhibit explores the complicated legacy of plastic, and the ways in which it has improved life, but not without serious impact on people and the environment. Within a framework of four evaluation questions, this study used multiple methods to assess what visitors do and where they spend their time in the exhibit, what knowledge they take away, and whether the exhibit impacts visitors' attitude toward plastic and their perception of the
Pushing the Limits: Making Sense of Science (PTL) is an NSF-funded program designed to build the capacity of rural and small libraries to enhance public understanding of science and math. The program provides professional support, technical assistance, and funding for librarians and local science partners to co-facilitate a series of science café-style guided public discussions with adult patrons using books and specially produced video segments. External evaluator Goodman Research Group, Inc. conducted the second formative evaluation, focusing on the professional development (PD) for the
Museums are increasingly engaging with their communities in understanding and addressing the complex questions of our society. How is this effort manifested in museum practice, and what is the impact of this work? Our study attempted to explore the boundaries of these questions by reviewing and synthesizing reports on InformalScience.org. The work was part of the NSF-funded Building Informal Science Education project (BISE). We selected a small set of reports of projects that aligned with our definition of social issues as conditions that are harmful to society, complex and characterized by a
The Global Viewport project was an integrative collaboration between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and. the New Bedford Oceanarium Corporation dba Ocean Explorium at New Bedford Seaport (hereafter, Ocean Explorium). The main thematic area that was addressed is Improving Public Earth System Science Literacy. A main objective of the Global Viewport project was to address Goal 1 of the GEO Education and Diversity Strategic Plan (2010-2015): “Advancing public literacy in Earth System Science.” For this evaluation the public interacted with spherical display content in an informal
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)Meredith Emery