The Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) will undertake a rigorous study of the public learning impact of the Science on a Sphere (SOS) museum education program that was began by NOAA in 2005. As proposed, this study will identify and evaluate the range and depth of SOS audience impacts and outcomes to provide the essential baseline understanding for its ongoing and future uses. The study will further explore the role and impact of data visualization in contemporary society as an effective means of deepening public understanding of such complex issues as Earth natural systems.
The Art of Science Learning, Phase 2 was an NSF-funded research and development project to investigate the value of incorporating arts-based learning techniques in STEM-related group innovation processes. The project team created a new, arts-infused innovation curriculum in consultation with leading national practitioners in the arts, creativity, and innovation, then deployed that curriculum in “innovation incubators” in San Diego, Chicago, and Worcester (Mass.) in partnership with informal STEM institutions in those cities. At each incubator, diverse members of the public (from high school
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Peter LinettSteve ShewfeltNicole BaltazarNnenna OkekeDreolin FleisherEric LaPlantMadeline SmithChloe Chittick PattonSarah LeeHarvey Seifter
During March 2017, Kathy Burke and Kari Nelson conducted a study of visitors to the special exhibition, The Power of Poison. The objective of this study was to discover how visitors moved through the exhibition and interacted with it, and how visitors perceived the intended message and related the exhibition to the overall goals of the NHMU. To achieve the objectives of this study, two evaluation methods were used: unobtrusive tracking and timing and cued questionnaires.
The Power of Poison is among the most thoroughly used exhibitions to be hosted in the NHMU special exhibitions gallery
The Extreme Plants Traveling Sideshow is a theatre piece performed at the Natural History Museum of Utah in relation to the special exhibition, The Power of Poison. While NHMU has a history of Museum Theatre performances, this was the first to be performed since its move to the Rio Tinto Center.
The goal of this evaluation was to understand the visitor experience with museum theater and museum theatre’s value in communicating science content, as well as to inform future productions at NHMU. With this in mind, we sought answer the following questions:
1. Did guests feel the performance
If your project, large or small, needs an external review panel or evaluation advisory committee to help oversee the extent to which project impacts were achieved, one option is to create an Evaluation Committee of Visitors (COV). A COV is commonly used when a project team wants to ensure a consistent outsider lens and broader perspective. As an external group, the COV reviews work and provides recommendations to improve project performance. In this example from the NISE Network, a COV was designated for evaluation efforts. Depending on how the evaluation activities are situated in your
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
At the end of the NISE Network’s 10th year, the Evaluation workgroup created a reflection document to describe how we managed the evaluation of the NISE Network, one of the largest informal education networks ever formed. This document goes into specifics of how we set up our team, what impacts we decided to measure, and what methods we used to collect data on a national scale. It also talks about ethical considerations we took into account and how we shared our work with multiple audiences. This reflection document is not meant to be a prescriptive "how-to" manual, but an example of one
Beginning in September 2015, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) initiated the three-year project Latina SciGirls: Promoting Middle School-Age Hispanic Girls' Positive STEM Identity Development. The cornerstone of the project is a fourth season of the Emmy Award-winning television and transmedia project SciGirls, to premiere in 2017, in this case involving six half-hour SciGirls episodes filmed in Spanish showing groups of Hispanic girls and their Hispanic STEM mentors investigating science and engineering problems. The television
As part of the development work of Latina SciGirls, the independent evaluation firm Knight Williams Inc. conducted a front-end evaluation focused on gathering input from the project’s primary public audiences (Latina girls and their parents/guardians) and professional audiences (the project’s advisers and partners). A total of 86 participants representing these diverse audience perspectives were asked to review an episode of the SciGirls program Hábitat en Caos/Habitat Havoc and two role model scientist profile videos featuring Karin Block and Victoria Velez. Scheduled early in Year 1 of the
As part of the development work of Latina SciGirls, the independent evaluation firm Knight Williams Inc. conducted a front-end evaluation focused on gathering input from the project’s primary public audiences (Latina girls and their parents/guardians) and professional audiences (the project’s advisers and partners).
Appendix includes logic model.
The purpose of this report is to summarize the findings from the Years 6-10 (2010-2015) Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) summative evaluation studies and to discuss factors that contributed to the achievement of NISE Net’s goals. The report centers on summative evaluation findings, while also including major project output data and corroborating findings from the Years 6-10 NISE Net research studies. By synthesizing findings across studies, this summary evaluation report provides a high-level description of the cross-cutting and integrated knowledge generation efforts
In prior research and development, the project team developed a StoryWorld, a computer-based intervention for English Learners (ELs) that presents children oral and written narratives in English while also providing the information in their first language. With this Phase I funding, the team will develop and test a prototype of a web-based dashboard that provides EL teachers real-time reports on children's progress in areas including for vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and proficiency. At the end of Phase I, in a pilot study in three first grade classrooms, the researchers will examine whether the prototype functions as planned, is easy to use, and provides information teachers can understand and use to inform their language and literacy instruction?
Science educators in the United States are adapting to a new vision of how students learn science. Children are natural explorers and their observations and intuitions about the world around them are the foundation for science learning. Unfortunately, the way science has been taught in the United States has not always taken advantage of those attributes. Some students who successfully complete their K–12 science classes have not really had the chance to “do” science for themselves in ways that harness their natural curiosity and understanding of the world around them.
The introduction of
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine