The Language of Conservation was a collaborative project between libraries, zoos, and poets nationwide to replicate a project originally undertaken by the Central Park Zoo. The project model built zoo, library, and poet-in-residence partnerships in five host cities: Brookfield, Illinois; Jacksonville, Florida; Little Rock, Arkansas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and New Orleans, Louisiana. It was anticipated that the zoo exhibits would result in positive outcomes for zoo visitors who encountered the poetry, including increasing the conservation thinking and language used after a visit and creating a
The National Science Foundation provided funding through NSF-ISE# 0946691 to support the Digital Immersive Screen Colloquium for Unified Standards and Specifications (DISCUSS), a seed initiative to nurture a shared Digital Immersive Giant Screen Specifications (DIGSS) for STEM learning film production at a scale and quality that is sustainable in the informal science education (ISE) community. The DISCUSS initiative engaged technical experts from across the GS community in concert with the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) and developed a first draft specification that was presented to
The Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) conducted a study to examine the impact of an information campaign presented at the 2010 Giant-Screen Cinema Association Annual Conference and Trade Show in Chattanooga, TN. The purpose of the study was to determine if changes in Conference attendees' awareness and attitudes towards the Digital Immersive Giant-Screen Specifications (DIGSS) could be attributed to the information campaign. Data were collected using an online questionnaire containing 11 "post/retrospective-pre"" items exploring the level of knowledge and attitude Conference attendees
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John FraserWhite Oak InstituteVictor Yocco
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate its SENCER-ISE conference funded by the National Science Foundation and the Noyce Foundation. The goal of the conference was to bring together professionals from the informal and formal science education sectors to discuss civic engagement in science and initiate potential collaborations between the two science education sectors. The evaluation explored participants' conference experiences, ideas, and collaborations resulting from the conference. RK&A conducted 20 in-depth
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
This report presents an evaluation study of Soundprint Media's project, Out of This World (#0741737), which was funded by the National Science Foundation's Informal Science Education Program. The mission of the project was to introduce adult radio listeners and youth participants in museum events to the historical context and challenges faced by African-Americans and women who were involved as professionals in the United States' space program in the 1960's. The project website, capecosmos.com, included an interactive menu of activities set within the context of a NASA mission control center
WGBH and the Materials Research Society (MRS) collaborated to create Making Stuff, a multi-faceted project about the all-encompassing role that materials play in shaping our lives. The project included a four-episode NOVA mini-series originally broadcast in January, 2011 that was hosted by NY Times columnist David Pogue, a large-scale national outreach campaign with collaborating partnerships funded in 20 locations, web pages on the NOVA website, and an online contest promoted and hosted on Facebook. Across all project components, the overarching goals were to enhance the general public's
Summary of Findings Summative Evaluation Cielo y Tierra Noticias del Mundo Robert L. Russell, Ph.D. Learning Experience Design October 2011 Learning Experience Design conducted summative evaluation of the project entitled: Cielo y Tierra Noticias del Mundo (Sky & Earth News of the World). A series of three evaluation sessions were conducted with radio listeners to look at the impacts of the programs on their interest in the topics presented, their understanding of the content presented, and their motivation to take further action. The first two studies used focus group sessions. The third and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert RussellEarthSky Communications, Inc.Malu Jimenez
One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure (OWOS) is a bi-national, China-US cooperative project to produce and distribute a planetarium show based on popular characters from Sesame Workshop's television productions in each country for preschool- and kindergarten-aged children, as well as accompanying outreach materials for children, parents and teachers to further enhance learning. The project aims to: (1) provide young Chinese and American children aged four to six with an age-appropriate introduction to astronomy; (2) promote positive attitudes toward science among young children in both
The Denver Art Museum (DAM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to study its young adults. The study, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), provides a profile of the young adult audience, including their demographics, behaviors, perceptions, and values. The DAM intends to use the results of the study to inform future programming and communication with DAM's young adult visitors. RK&A employed two data collection strategies: standardized questionnaires administered online at Surveymonkey.com to program participants and telephone interviews with core program
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Denver Art Museum
In 2007 Miami University, in partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (Zoo) and the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), received a National Science Foundation Grant to develop, create, implement, and evaluate the impacts of Wild Research, a whole zoo exhibit. The purpose of Wild Research was to promote Zoo visitors' engagement in inquiry, across generations, and increase visitors' awareness of conservation issues. ILI was charged with conducting the summative evaluation for Wild Research. This study was conducted to answer the question: What is the impact on visitors to
In preparation for the development of the NSF-funded exhibition Places of Invention, the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a front-end evaluation. The study explored interest in, misconceptions of, and potential barriers to the content in the Places of Invention exhibition, which tells stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness. RK&A conducted 50 in-depth interviews with
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Smithsonian InstitutionLemelson Center for the Study of Invention and InnovationNational Museum of American History
This study was conducted as part of the formative evaluation of the NISE Network Forum Nanomedicine in Healthcare. The purpose of the forum was to bring members of the public together to discuss the conditions under which nanotechnology applications in medicine and personal care products should be made available to the public. During the forum, participants learned about nanotechnology and its societal and ethical impacts from expert speakers, had chance to ask questions of the experts, participated in a small group discussion in which they talked about the pros and cons of releasing