The Lost Ladybug Project, led by Cornell University's Department of Entomology and funded by the National Science Foundation, is a citizen science project that uses ladybugs as a focal species in order to involve children, families, adults, and other groups in field science experiences to illustrate scientific concepts, including invasive species, biodiversity, and conservation. In the project's third year, its activities included the refinement of online mechanisms for participation and submission of data, finalization of guides, curriculum materials, and tools for public audiences including
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jessica SicklerCornell UniversityTammy Messick Cherry
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) partnered with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under renewed National Science Foundation funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. The 2007-2008 evaluation of the project found evidence of effective implementation and data on important student
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry
The Peabody Museum of Natural History's program on Biodiversity and Vector-Borne Disease was successful in meeting all of its goals. The following is a summary of the program in terms of these goals. Goal 1: To build teacher capacity for bringing research in biodiversity and disease ecology to grades 5-11 in an engaging, inquiry-based style. A total of 64 teachers from Connecticut and 4 teacher-trainers from California, Texas, and Wisconsin participated in training institutes to learn about vector-borne diseases. All participating teachers successfully implemented most or all of the curriculum
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Minda BorunPeabody Museum of Natural History
The Listen exhibition at The Exploratorium, which opened in October 2006, deals with the production and physical characteristics of sound, the reception of sound in the ear and its perception in the brain, and the human capacity to interpret and act on the information transmitted by sounds. Summative evaluation of Listen consists of two parts: tracking and timing and exit interviews. Instruments for the studies were developed by Minda Borun. Data were collected by Exploratorium staff members Mary Kidwell, Emily Pinkowitz, Heather Posner, and Deborah Siegel, and were tabulated by Mary Kidwell
Media MashUp (MMU) was an IMLS funded project (LG-07-08-0113 ) designed to help libraries build capacity for offering computer-based programs for youth. These programs were designed to help foster 21st Century literacy skills. The program focused on the Scratch programming language (http://scratch.mit.edu/), but also used other creative freeware programs (i.e., Audacity, Picasa, SAM animation, ArtRage). MMU was a partnership among six library systems from around the country and The Science Museum of Minnesota. Three staff members from each library participated in the program: two librarians or
The Media MashUp project is funded by the IMLS (Grant LG-07-08-0113 ) to build capacity at libraries for computer-based programs for youth that help build 21st Century literacy skills. Twenty first Century literacy skills include interactive engagement with technology, collaboration and team problem solving, taking initiative and managing time and the use of higher level processing skills (www.21stcenturyskills.org/). This project uses the Scratch programming platform (http://scratch.mit.edu/) developed at MIT to help foster youth's 21st Century literacy skills. The professional audience
This report is the fourth annual report summarizing data collected about the overall impact of the Saint Louis Science Center's educational programs on participants. Data was collected between September 2009 to August 2010. Three programs are spotlighted: Family Med School, Science Communication for Brain Scientists, and SciJourn.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer HeimElisa IsraelSemilla BlandSaint Louis Science Center
This report is the second annual report summarizing data collected about the overall impact of the Saint Louis Science Center's educational programs on participants. Data was collected between September 2007 to August 2008. Four programs, Challenger Learning Center Student Missions, MySci(TM), Nanofuture Forums, and Travel Programs, are spotlighted.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer HeimElisa IsraelStaci WillisKaty LoftonYing LiuSaint Louis Science Center
This report is the first annual report summarizing data collected about the overall impact of the Saint Louis Science Center's educational programs on participants. Data was collected between September 2006 to August 2007. Four programs, Summer Science Blast, FIRST Robotics, YES-2-Tech, and Learning Place, are spotlighted.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer HeimElisa IsraelSaint Louis Science Center
The goal of the study was to inform an interpretive and master planning process at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site by documenting visitor motivations, interests, experience, and learning outcomes of four key audiences identified by Eastern State: walk-in visitors (adult only), walk-in visitors (groups with children), prearranged adult tour groups, and school groups. Specifically, the report focuses on the following evaluative questions: 1) Who are the visitors to Eastern State and why do they come? (e.g., entry conditions such as demographics, motivations for their visit, expectations
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jill SteinEastern State Penitentiary Historic SiteJes A. Koepfler
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is partnering with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under the renewed National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. An SCRT program website is under development with program information and a social networking page
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry
Given its ongoing commitment to universal design and the integration of technologies into the museum experience, the Museum of Science decided to employ a handheld Multimedia Tour to accompany Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, an exhibition about the real world meeting Star Wars technologies. With the help of leading tour guide developer, Antenna Audio, a 22-stop tour was produced featuring narration, Behind the Scenes interviews with individuals who had worked on the films, Star Wars film clips, still photos and the ability to send information home. An American Sign Language version