Presentation slides on submitting competitive Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) proposals, originally presented at the 2012 Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference
This study was conducted to document how members of the Design Challenges team currently assist visitors as they engage in engineering design activities as a way of informing the practices of informal technology education at the Museum of Science about the types of scaffolds and supports visitors need when engaging in future engineering design labs in exhibitions. To collect data for this study, educators from the Design Challenges team were observed as they helped visitors complete the Solar Cars activity in Investigate! The Solar Cars activity was not designed as an engineering design lab
The following comprise the CONCLUSIONS of SRA's evaluation: POLAR-PALOOZA toured the United States at a time when the topic of climate change and global warming appeared relatively low on a list of Americans' concerns (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 2006), with the economy, war, and health care taking precedence. Nevertheless, POLAR-PALOOZA was a powerful format for engaging the public and teachers with science, while also being a rewarding and worthwhile experience for the traveling scientists. PPZA was an ambitious and complex undertaking designed to bring what is
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences project focuses on the Reedy Glacier Antarctic research of Brenda Hall (OPP 0229034) and its relevance to the residents of and visitors to Maine. Collaborators include the University of Maine, the Maine Discovery Museum, the Acadia National Park and Cadillac Mountain Sports (an environmentally active retail company with several stores around the state). The primary deliverable is the development of an interactive software program that presents information and experiences in a two-tiered concept approach -- on the Reedy Glacier and its connection to Maine and on the process of science. The software is being configured into kiosks at the three partnering organizations, into a DVD format for informal and formal settings to be distributed at cost and onto a University of Maine Climate Change web portal currently under separate development. The project web site will provide source code for the portal design so others may use it to create portals and modules of their own. The Maine Discovery Museum intends to create additional exhibitry on the topic with resources outside this proposal, and the Acadia National Park will use the programs in teacher education workshops.
CENTC's (Center for Enabling New Technologies Through Catalysis) outreach is focused on partnerships with science centers. Initially we worked with the Pacific Science Center (PSC) to train our students in effective communication of science concepts to public audiences. Later we developed a short-term exhibit, Chemist - Catalysts for Change in the Portal to Current Research space. As part of the CCI/AISL partnership program, we partnered with Liberty Science Center to create an activity on a multi-touch media table, "Molecule Magic." We are currently developing another exhibit with PSC.
This Pathways Project connects rural, underserved youth and families in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho to STEM concepts important in sustainable building design. The project is a collaboration of the Palouse Discovery Science Center (Pullman, WA), Washington State University and University of Idaho, working in partnership with rural community organizations and businesses. The deliverables include: 1) interactive exhibit prototype activities, 2) a team cooperative learning problem-solving challenge, and (3) take-home materials to encourage participants to use what they have learned to investigate ways to make their homes more energy-efficient and sustainable. The project introduces youth and families to the traditionally difficult physics concept of thermal energy, particularly as it relates to sustainable building design. Participants explore how building materials and their properties can be used to control all three types of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The interactive exhibit prototypes are coupled with an Energy Efficient Engineering Challenge in which participants, working in cooperative learning teams, use information learned from the exhibit prototype activities to retrofit a model house, improving its energy efficiency. The project components are piloted at the Palouse Discovery Science Center, and then travel to three underserved rural/tribal communities in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. Front-end and formative evaluation studies will demonstrate whether this model advances participant understanding of and interest in STEM topics and careers. The project will yield information about ways that other ISE practitioners can effectively incorporate cooperative learning strategies in informal settings to improve the transferability of knowledge gained from exhibits to real-world problem-solving challenges, especially for rural and underserved audiences. This project will also provide the ISE field with: 1) a model for increasing the capacity of small, rural science centers to form collaborative regional networks that draw on previously unused resources in their communities and provide more effective outreach to the underrepresented populations they serve, and 2) a model for coupling cooperative learning with outreach exhibits, providing richer experiences of active engagement.
In this article, Tiffany Sakato, museum studies graduate student at NYU and exhibition media intern at the National September 11 Memorial Museum, explores how American graduate programs in museum studies are preparing students to think and operate globally. Sakato argues that this trend is sprouting from the personal interest and motivation of the students themselves.
Learning Science in Informal Environments draws together disparate literatures, synthesizes the state of knowledge, and articulates a common framework for the next generation of research on learning science in informal environments across a life span. Contributors include recognized experts in a range of disciplines--research and evaluation, exhibit designers, program developers, and educators. They also have experience in a range of settings--museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, aquariums, zoos, state parks, and botanical gardens. Learning Science
This report presents the findings of a summative evaluation of MarQuest, conducted by Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A), for the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. MarsQuest is a traveling exhibition funded by the National Science Foundation and, as such, data collection took place at two venues: in July 2001 at the Park Place Mall in Tucson, Arizona (a temporary satellite site for the Tucson Children's Museum) and in March 2002 at the Hampton Air and Space Museum in Hampton, Virginia. The evaluation was undertaken to document the scope of the exhibition's impact and
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Space Science Institute
Evidence from the data collected on the Midwest Wild Weather Project indicates that the teachers are very excited about its potential for increasing their students' science literacy and understanding of the scientific process, as well as increasing their knowledge of the weather and exciting them about science in general. Students are very focused, enthusiastic and excited when interacting with the exhibits and universally pleased with their exploration and explainer experiences. MWW is also effectively reaching the intended underserved and underrepresented students across the nine sites are
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Gregory AloiaSciTech Hands On Museum
In the Fall/Winter of 2002/3, RMC Research Corporation (RMC) conducted a summative evaluation of The Human Body film and outreach materials, including lobby exhibit, Teacher's Resource Guide, and Web site. These were the culminating activities in a series of studies conducted over the past three years related to The Human Body project, including formative evaluations of the film and each of the outreach components. These summative evaluations were designed to determine the overall effect on audiences of the finished products. This report contains sections relating to the major elements of The
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Alice ApleyMaryland Science CenterRalph AdlerWendy GrahamLaura Winn
The Exploratorium is developing a model program that demonstrates the vital role science museum exhibits can play in supporting formal science education reform. The development of exhibitions and enhancement activities is based on the Science Framework for California Public Schools and the emerging National Science Education Standards. The project includes: A series of four museum exhibitions (with a total of 60 exhibits) based on the Science Framework themes of Patterns of Change, Stability, Scale and Structure, and Systems and Interactions Publications (Exhibit Guides and Pathways) for each collection A series of workshops and evening events for teachers, families and students A symposium, video and Internet resource for museum and education professionals An important feature is an information desk and resource kiosk to inform teachers, parents and the general public about science education reform efforts. The project aims at 5,000 teachers, 32,000 parents and caregivers, 140,000 students and 1,320,000 members of the general public.