The March 12-13, 2007 workshop at NSF on informal science education evaluation brought together a distinguished group of experts to discuss how impact categories might be best applied to various types of informal learning projects. This publication is an outcome of that meeting. The authors have strived to make the sections as helpful as possible given the primary focus of this workshop on project impacts. It should be viewed as part of an ongoing process to improve the ways in which evaluation can most benefit ISE projects, NSF, and the field. The publication is intended to help those
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 utilized digital media in the form of still photographs and video-clips of students’ visits to a science centre to stimulate recall of the visit and to explore the extent to which students were cognitively engaged, specifically looking at the meaning they constructed. Students were asked what was happening in the clip or photo, how the exhibit “worked” what they thought the exhibit was trying to show them, and whether or not they enjoyed the exhibit. The study found that the visits to science centres were highly memorable experiences for students and that students were highly
If you are using or considering using video as a research tool in informal settings, this paper provides multiple perspectives on approaches to video-clip selection, video data analysis, video data management and sharing, and the ethics of using video. It raises fundamental questions that can guide your use of video in informal settings.
This article provides a summary of computer tools and environments designed to support collaborative inquiry learning. It offers ISE practitioners an informative introduction to computer-based tools and activities currently available in classrooms and, by identifying the ways in which such tools support inquiry, may help readers to reflect on how their own activities support inquiry.
The researcher of this study presents definitive arguments for the need to move beyond a “school-centric” approach to studying how people learn. Citing ecological perspectives on learning, this paper claims that for an understanding of how people develop interests, participation, and fluency in a given domain, it is necessary to first examine how these interests are developed and nurtured across time and settings. The researcher provides three case studies of teens who familiarized themselves with electronic technologies, each of them following different pathways, all of which spanned multiple
The nature of science—not only what science involves, but also how it is understood by students—is a well-established area of research. Findings have long informed policy directives and the design of teaching and learning materials. Students’ understanding of the nature of technology, meanwhile, is less widely studied, yet such an understanding is arguably essential for active participation in a technology-rich and information-driven society. In order to examine students’ understanding of technology and thereafter to develop effective approaches to supporting engagement, educators need a
Ice Planet Earth (IPE) was a three-year NSF-Funded grant, with a focus on building awareness and understanding of polar processes and designed to coincide with the International Polar Year, which took place from March 2007-March 2009. A key feature of the IPE project was the development of 'Ice Worlds', a planetarium style film designed for both general audiences and for students/youth. IPE was a collaboration between the University of New Hampshire, and the following institutions: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh; the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences; the Louisiana Art
In 2011, ORG received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop resources for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning by redesigning and expanding the "Jonathan Bird's Blue World" website; adding components to enable teachers and students to search episodes for specific themes, locations, or scientific concepts; and enhancing the lesson plans to explicitly match the content standards for teaching science. One of the major grant objectives was to make the "Jonathan Bird's Blue World" website content widely accessible as an open source via an Internet
In an effort to prepare female high school students for a college curriculum and achieve gender parity in the engineering industry, WGBH has developed an initiative entitled, Engineer Your Life (EYL). The initiative is targeted toward female high school students, career counselors/educators, and professional engineers. It is designed to: 1) increase these target audiences' understanding of engineering, 2) inspire young women to explore engineering as a career option and 3) help adults encourage young women to investigate engineering opportunities. One component of this initiative involves
In 2008, the WGBH Educational Foundation, along with the Association of Computing Machinery, was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation, Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, under the Broadening Participation in Computing Program (NSF 0753686). The purpose of the grant was to develop a major new initiative to reshape the image of computing among college-bound high school students. Based on its market research results, WGBH developed a website and other resources that were intended for use by teachers, parents and students. Concord Evaluation Group
WGBH Boston (wgbh.org) was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to, in part, develop outreach materials based on the children's television series FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman. The outreach materials were designed to help typically underserved kids learn about science in informal camp or after-school settings. The centerpiece of this effort was the Camp FETCH! Guide (the Guide). The Guide is meant for anyone who wants to lead hands-on science activities with six- to ten-year-olds: camp counselors, afterschool providers, teachers, librarians, museum staff, and others. WGBH hired