This paper discusses the methodologies, key findings, and implications of a research project that examined the effectiveness of exhibits for making children understand scientific concepts. The two-part study was conducted at Nehru Science Centre (Bombay, India).
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Vijay JavlekarVisitor Studies Association
This is a brief summary of Barbara Birney's 1988 article featured in "Environment and Behavior," which discussed key findings from the formative evaluation of Brookfield Zoo's "Flying Walk" exhibit. The exhibit was designed to teach visitors the proper wing movement of birds.
In this brief article, Ruth Freeman summarizes a report of ongoing evaluation efforts of the effectiveness of the Discovery Gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum.
In this article, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researchers Dawn D' Amico and Wendy Pokorny discuss findings from their study that investigated the impact of a museum visit on preconceived notions of scientific explanation. D' Amico and Pokorny found that visitors' preconceptions were unlikely to change as a result of viewing exhibits.
The National Science Outreach Network will provide school children, teachers, and the general public with highly accessible interactive exhibits dealing with popular topics in science and technology. The network, initiated as a partnership between regional science centers and public libraries, will be modeled after the highly successful statewide Oregon Library Exhibits Network established in 1987. Through this smaller network, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, a nationally recognized pioneer in science exhibitry and outreach programming, circulates small hands-on exhibits to rural population centers through installations in public libraries, where school groups and families have free and convenient access. This national dissemination project will be initiated in five regional sites across the country (Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Tennessee, and Oregon) to further establish the model in rural, inner-urban, economically disadvantaged, and culturally diverse regions. With support from both the NSF and the regional networks, The National Science Outreach Network will design and duplicate six exhibits for circulation to dozens of local communities in each designated region. Over the next seven years, over six million individuals, many of whom do not currently frequent a local science center, will be introduced to popular science in a non-threatening, resource- rich setting. This will encourage further exploration and possible future visits to an accessible science center, and ultimately establish an ever-expanding network of museum and non-museum partners providing science and technology learning opportunities to millions of individuals each year.
Acting on behalf of a group of academic, educational and public-service organizations the University of California-Santa Barbara proposes to improve aquatic science education in informal settings that include youth-service organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, YMCA, YWCA, Boys and Girls Clubs and 4-H. The specific emphasis will be on the close interdependence between humans and the aquatic environment and on the need for enlightened social action in defense of that environment. The thrusts of the project will be to establish the California Aquatic Science Education Consortium; to develop multiple copes of sets of instructional materials on topic of aquatic science appropriate for informal educational settings; and to develop a program for training a cadre of trainers who in turn will train volunteers in the use of the materials. The program has a significant potential for broader national application.
A collaboration of staff from the University of California at Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, School of Education, and the Cooperative Extension Service (4-H) will develop and implement SERIES (Science Experiences and Resources for Informal Education Settings), a state-wide informal science education program for the California State 4-H system. Over a three year period they will adapt existing science curricula and generate new materials for use in informal 4-H settings around the theme of science relevant to societal concerns, with an agricultural technology focus. They will design and test a comprehensive training model using the materials to insure their effective use by volunteer leaders, and develop an extensive cadre of CES staff and volunteer trainers skilled in training volunteer teachers in the use of the curriculum materials. The resulting curriculum and training materials will be published and made available at cost to all 4-H clubs. The project will directly benefit 100 paid and volunteer trainers, 1800 volunteer leaders and 12,600 youth participants, and will indirectly benefit the more than 60,000 youth enrolled in California 4-H programs each year.
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Richard PonzioLaurel DeanHerbert Thier
The Children's Museum proposes to develop two versions of an interative physical.science exhibit dealing with wave mechanics and the related actions of vibrating and oscillation systems. One version will be a permanent exhibit that is to be a central component in the new science area of the museum, while the other will be a traveling exhibit that will tour the country under the auspices of the Association of Science.Technology Centers. The purpose of the exhibit is to heighten the interest of children in scientific experimentation, with learning taking place at three levels including sensory.motor, perceptual.operational and intutitive.conceptual. Materials for teachers will supplement the exhibit, and an internship program will train largely minority middle.school students in basic concepts and then use them as "explainers" for the general public. The request to the National Science Foundation represents 73% of the total cost of the exhibits, with the remainder coming from institutional and other sources.
The Computer Museum proposes to initiate a Computer Exhibits Kits Program whose goal will be to foster a better understanding of computer science and technology among the general public. The program proposes to develop and disseminate nine different kits, each consisting of a computer program, documentation, educational materials and, in some cases, specialized hardware. Other museums and science centers will be able to purchase these well tested kits at modest cost and implement them on personal computers to create exhibits for visitors ten years old and older. Strong support from other institutions suggests that the program will reach twenty million visitors a year.
The middle-school and high-school years are a period of change and crystalization in terms of life goals, disciplinary and course preferences, and social and political attitudes. The literature provides a number of cross-sectional descriptions and models concerning cognitive and attitudinal development during adolescence and young adulthood, but there are no longitudinal data available to study these processes. The proposed longitudinal study will examine the (1) development of interest in science and mathematics, (2) the growth of scientific literacy, (3) the development of attentiveness to science and technology issues, and (4) the attraction to careers in science and engineering among two national cohorts of adolescents and young adults. One cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 seventh graders and follow them through the 10th grade. The second cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 10th graders and follow them for the next four years through the first full year after high school. Data will be collected from students, teachers, counselors, principals, and parents. A purposive sample of two or three school districts with exemplary elementary school science and mathematics education programs will be selected and comparable data will be collected in these districts. The analysis will consist of a series of expanding multivariate developmental models that will seek to understand cognitive and attitudinal growth and change in the context of family, school, and peer influences. Each wave of data collection will provide an opportunity to examine cognitive and attitudinal change measures in an increasingly rich context of previous measures. Periodic reports will be issued with each cycle of data collection and the data will be made available to other scholars on a timely basis. The first phase of the project, being funded at this time, provides approximately 15 months for instrument development and pilot testing, for sample selection, for monitor selection and training, and for working with the research advisory committee.
The Franklin Institute Science Museum, a major American Science Center serving more than 700,000 individuals annually, proposes to create a 3,700 square foot permanent exhibition that will promote public interest in and understanding of the concepts and principles of mathematics in concrete, tangible form. The exhibition will consist of five clusters of hands-on devices, interactive computer programs, models, and text on the themes of Geometry; Symmetry; Chance, Probability and Randomness; Series, Sequences and Limits; and "Modern Math"--Fractals, Knots and Braids and Topology. Museum staff will utilize several mathematicians as advisors and design participants and will develop adjunct educational materials for use by teachers, students, and family members. They will disseminate exhibition techniques and content by providing six collaborating museums with selected copies of exhibit devices and hardware for their use in developing temporary or permanent mathematics exhibits. Staff of the six museums will join advisors for a design conference during exhibition planning, and will provide evaluation reports on their use of the exhibit materials. Knowledge of mathematics is not only necessary for everyday life; it is central to public understanding of science and engineering, and a key to continued participation in science and engineering, and a key to continued participation in science education in high school and college. Increasing national interest improvement in the mathematical ability of americans at all levels, pre-college and college, make this proposed exhibition particularly timely.
The investigation of naive conceptions of science has many implications for both teaching and learning. The predominant model for past investigations has been with school children or within very formal settings. Extending investigations of misconceptions to informal settings is the challenge of this research. Museum visitors' misconceptions about two topics, gravity and mechanical advantage, will be recorded through a variety of interview formats. Twenty-five persons from each of the age ranges 9-11, 12-14, 15-18, and college students/adults will be interviewed. Information from the interview will be used to modify the current exhibit or to build new prototypes. The research will determine if a modification can be made that results in individuals moving from their previous misconceptions toward a correct conceptualization of the concepts. This research will document what individuals actually learn from museum exhibits and how "front end evaluation" can be used to redesign exhibits for maximum concept learning. The proposed research is challenging and has the potential of adding significant information to science education research on misconceptions. The principal investigator is highly respected in the field of museum education and the associated staff and consultants are the top scholars in their respective fields.