In 2006, the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation's Information/Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) division to create the Dan River Information Technology Academy (DRITA) for under-served high school students in rural Virginia. The only program of its kind in Southern Virginia, the program was designed to provide participating students with competencies in information technology (IT) and workforce skills. In addition, the program seeks to encourage students to graduate from high
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Irene GoodmanLorraine DeanMiriam KochmanHelena PylvainenColleen ManningKaren PetermanInstitute of Advanced Learning and Research
resourceevaluationMuseum and Science Center Exhibits
A Participatory Model for Integrating Cognitive Research into Exhibits for Children was a model that the Museum of Science proposed to the National Science Foundation's Informal Science Education Program (NSF-ISE) in the Fall of 2006. The Model was to further develop, test, and refine an innovative program that engages adult visitors in a deeper understanding of how children learn and expand understanding of cognitive development. Researchers from cognitive and child development laboratories at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, and Children's Hospital Boston
The purpose of this study was to assess visitors' use and perceptions of several dimensions of visitors' reactions to the Water' exhibition as an informal science experience. Visitors were asked about their overall opinions, the highlights, the messages learned and perceptions about recognizing presentations of scientific data, environmental issues and visually memorable exhibits. SMM staff conducted 399 interviews with visitors as they exited the Water exhibition. In addition, 50 visitors were intercepted at each of four specific exhibits (Rain Table, Science On a Sphere, Three tubes and Geo
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jeff HaywardBrian WernerScience Museum of MinnesotaGary WoodardPaul Morin
August, 2009 Communities of Effective Practice, 2008-2009 Evaluation Abstract: The Communities of Effective Practice (CEP) project is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to develop a professional development model for supporting math and science instructional practices that are culturally responsive within American Indian communities. This report summarizes findings from the Year 3 evaluation (conducted during the 2008-2009 academic year) and discusses these findings within the context of the Years 1 and 2 evaluations. It presents key considerations for developing a Community
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Gina MaghariousKasey McCrackenUtah State University
The Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) conducted a summative evaluation of the NSF-ISE funded project, WolfQuest. WolfQuest is an educational video game, downloadable free of charge, developed by Eduweb (Educational Web Adventures, Inc.) and the Minnesota Zoo. WolfQuest intends to increase the knowledge of, interest in, and attitudes towards wolves and wolf habitats in children ages 9 to 15. This evaluation report synthesizes key analysis and findings from data based on a web survey of players, in-depth phone interviews of players, and content analysis of the game conversation forums
The evaluation was guided by four major questions: 1) How has math education changed at the afterschool programs sites over the course of the project? 2) Have children's experiences of informal math changed over the course of the project? 3) How have program staff changed in relation to math education? and 4) How is Mixing in Math being sustained at the program sites and disseminated to other programs and sites? Staff, program, and organizational factors all played a strong role in supporting high quality implementation of Mixing in Math. Mixing in Math was most successful where the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Beth MillerTERC Inc.Kristin Lewis-Warner
The exhibit Coffee The World in Your Cup was designed by and installed at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture running from January 24, 2009 through September 7. The exhibit presents the story of one of the world's most widely traded commodities and how it has affected cultures, economies, and environments across the globe. Coffee explores the environmental and social impacts of the coffee industry and recommends ways for consumers to make socially and environmentally responsible coffee purchases at the grocery store or in a coffee shop. The exhibit space is approximately 2,000
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Nick VisscherUniversity of WashingtonSarah MartinezErin Wilcox
This report represents the results of a summative evaluation study of visitor response to new interpretive signage in Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Tropical Pavilion. The evaluation aims to reveal the extent to which the new signage succeeds in providing the outcomes for the visitor experience identified in the Garden's Interpretive Master Plan (IMP). The IMP's overarching goal is: to create interactions and experiences with visitors of all ages and backgrounds which are rich, enjoyable, personally relevant, and communicate the key message,Plants are essential to life. The following content goals
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ellen GiustiBrooklyn Botanic GardenKathleen Condon
"Megalodon: Largest Shark That Ever Lived", a 5000-square-foot exhibition, started with a gift of shark fossil specimens and models, inspiring curators and administrators to create an exhibition to educate the public about extinct and modern sharks. This summative evaluation was undertaken to investigate whether exhibition visitors come away with an understanding of the exhibition's main premise: Megalodon, a dominant marine predator for 15 million years before vanishing 2 million years ago, provides lessons for shark conservation today. The learning goals also included a number of subthemes
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ellen GiustiFlorida Museum of Natural History
This summative evaluation report aims to examine the impact of Travels in the Great Tree of Life, a temporary exhibition at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. The 1000-square-foot exhibition seeks to convey concepts of phylogenetic relationships based on recency of common ancestry. In addition, its goal is for visitors to come away with an understanding of the vast scope and complexity of the Tree of Life (herein referred to as ToL) and some practical applications of ToL research. Data collection employed a mixed methods approach. Structured exit interviews were conducted with 102
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ellen GiustiYale Peabody Museum of Natural History
The summative evaluation of Yuungnaqpiallerput used two evaluation strategies--tracking and timing (T&T) and an open-ended questionnaire (CQ)--to discover how visitors used the exhibition and what they could immediately recall about it. The combined data from these methods produced a well-rounded set of evidence for the degree of success achieved by the exhibition. Yuungnaqpiallerput was designed to be engaging to both an Alaska Native American audience and non-natives. Of the 61 people in the CQ sample, 69% said that they were first-time visitors to the Anchorage Museum, and 75% had no
Beautiful Science: Ideas that Changed the World, a 2,500-square-foot permanent exhibition, contains more than 100 rare, important, and beautiful books and manuscripts from the Huntington's collections, along with artifacts and interactive experiences. The content focuses on the changing role of science through the centuries, with particular emphasis on some of the astonishing leaps in imagination made by scientists and the importance of written works in communicating those ideas. There were 52 exhibit elements in subject areas of Astronomy, Natural History, Medicine, and Light. Feedback on the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Beverly SerrellThe Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens