Parents and children are rapidly adopting mobile technologies, yet designs for mobile devices that serve a communication function to connect parents to children's out-of-school time activities are limited. As a result, our team designed the Digital Postcard Maker so that children attending summer camps can create digital photographs to send home to their parents. These digital postcards help to connect children's home life with out-of-school learning experiences and also support 21st Century Skills' media literacy practices. The research design included two iterations of a design-based
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Heather ZimmermanChristopher GamratSimon Hooper
The article discusses a study conducted by the University of Waterloo, reported by researcher Daniela O'Neill, regarding the acquisition of knowledge by children concerning animals when a picture book is read aloud. Topics include a comparison of picture books and vocabulary books, the use of generic language used by mothers when reading aloud, and additional animal facts provided when reading either book.
The authors use existing data from videos and field notes to analyze the effects of TV viewing on children as they are watching a program. They present a case study of two siblings to demonstrate their interactions, finding that children display complex reasoning practices while watching TV, but only under certain conditions and with certain types of social support.
Climate Change: NASA’s Eyes on the Arctic is a multi-disciplinary outreach program built around a partnership targeted at k-12 students, teachers and communities. Utilizing the strengths of three main educational outreach institutions in Alaska, the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska partnered with the University of Alaska Museum of the North, the Anchorage Museum and UAF researchers to build a strategic and long lasting partnership between STEM formal and informal education providers to promote STEM literacy and awareness of NASA’s mission. Specific Goals of the project include: 1) Engaging and inspiring the public through presentation of relevant, compelling stories of research and adventure in the Arctic; 2) strengthening the pipeline of k-12 students into STEM careers, particularly those from underserved groups; 3) increasing interest in science among children and their parents; 4) increasing awareness of NASA’s role in climate change research; and 5) strengthening connections between UAF researchers, rural Alaska, and Alaska’s informal science education institutions. Each institution chose communities with whom they had prior relationships and/or made logistical sense. Through discussions analyzing partner strengths, tasks were divided; the Challenger Center taking on the role of k-12 curriculum development, the Museum of the North creating animations with data pulled from UAF research, to be shown on both in-house and traveling spherical display systems and the Anchorage Museum creating table top displays for use in community science nights. Each developed element was used while visiting the identified communities both in the classroom environment and during the community science nights.
This report was completed by the Program Evaluation Research Group at Endicott College in October 2013. It describes the outcomes and impacts of a four-year, NSF-funded project called Go Botany: Integrated Tools to Advance Botanical Learning (grant number 0840186). Go Botany focuses on fostering increased interest in and knowledge of botany among youth and adults in New England. This was being done through the creation of an online flora for the region, along with the development of related tools, including PlantShare, and a user-friendly interface for ‘smartphones’. In January 2012, the PI
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Judah LeblangNew England Wild Flower Society
Produced by National Geographic Kids and Cricket Moon Media with support from the National Science Foundation, Marine Missions is a free iPad touch screen application for preschoolers. The app is hosted by Jacques, a hermit crab character who guides pre-readers through six ocean missions and the building of a fantasy sea creature. Players steer Jacques’ boat to three green markers to clean up polluted spots in the ocean and three orange markers to complete different water current challenges in which players rescue Jacques’ tools from a whirlpool, run past blowholes, and surf on tidal bores
This full-scale project addresses the need for more youth, especially girls, to pursue an interest in engineering and eventually fill a critical workforce need. The project leverages museum-based exhibits, girls' activity groups, and social media to enhance participants' engineering-related interests and identities. The project includes the following bilingual deliverables: (1) Creative Solutions programming will engage girls in group oriented engineering activities at partner community-based organizations, where the activities highlight altruistic, personally relevant, and social aspects of engineering. Existing community groups will use the activities in their regular meeting structure. Visits to the museum exhibits, titled Design Your World will reinforce messages; (2) Design Your World Exhibits will serve as a community hub at two ISE institutions (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the Hatfield Marine Science Center). They will leverage existing NSF-funded Engineer It! (DRL-9803989) exhibits redesigned to attract, engage, and mobilize a more diverse population by showcasing altruistic, personally relevant, and social aspects of engineering; (3) Digital engagement through targeted use of social media will complement program and exhibit content and be an online portal for groups engaged in the project; (4) A community action group (CAG) will provide professional development opportunities to stakeholders interested in girls' STEM identity (e.g. parents, STEM-based business professionals) to promote effective engineering messaging throughout the community and engage them in supporting project participants; and (5) Longitudinal research will explore how girls construct and negotiate engineering-related identities through discourse across the project activities and over time.
This research and development project explores the mechanisms that initiate and support innovation in early childhood education, especially in combining informal learning via public media and technology with teacher and family interactions to maximize children's math learning. Deliverables include 27 episodes of Peg+Cat, an animated math adventure series on PBS, 8 related online games and apps, summer math institutes and school-year training for preschool/Head Start teachers, and complementary activities and resources to support parent's knowledge and practice and student's engagement, interest, and learning of foundational math concepts. The research agenda will test several hypotheses regarding the strategies to extend teacher's math content knowledge and pedagogy and parent/ caregiver's understanding and valuing of math. A key question will focus on how coupled learning opportunities (professional development for teachers, transmedia, and support for families) enable and sustain children's engagement and learning in math. Formative evaluation of the media components will use focus groups of 3-5 year olds to assure develerables are engaging and accessible. The summative evaluation by Rockman et al will focus on how well the project met its overall goals including the project implementation, and impacts on Head Start teachers, parents/caregivers, and preschoolers. The project's transmedia deliverables will reach millions of preschoolers through daily PBS broadcasts and online games and apps. Fifty Head Start teachers will participate in the two-year professional development program and will be using new content knowledge and pedagogy to teach 550 Head Start children in southwest Pennsylvania and engage their parents/caregivers. The Head Start infrastructure will provide further dissemination of the project's findings and resources.
In this article, Mary Stewart Miller, evaluator at the Cumberland Science Museum, discusses evaluation methods involving child visitors as well as adults. Stewart Miller shares methodology and findings from an evaluation of the museum's "Brain" exhibit, a study which involved interviewing children ages eight to thirteen.
In this article, Linda A. Black, Exhibits Planning Director at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, discusses methods and findings from the Kellogg Demonstration Project. The project directly involved museum staff in the instrument design and data collection for evaluation of the Museum's new "Mysteries in History" exhibit. Also, a computer software package known as "Looking Closely" was developed to assist with data collection and analysis.
The overarching purpose of the Climate Literacy Zoo Education Network is to develop and evaluate a new approach to climate change education that connects zoo visitors to polar animals currently endangered by climate change, leveraging the associative and affective pathways known to dominate decision-making. Utilizing a polar theme, the partnership brings together a strong multidisciplinary team that includes the Chicago Zoological Society of Brookfield, IL, leading a geographically distributed consortium of nine partners: Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, OH; Como Zoo & Conservatory, St. Paul, MN; Indianapolis Zoo, IN; Louisville Zoological Garden, KY; Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR; Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, PA; Roger Williams Park Zoo, Providence, RI; Toledo Zoological Gardens, OH, and the organization Polar Bears International. The partnership leadership includes the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. The partnership is joined by experts in conservation psychology and an external advisory board. The primary stakeholders are the diverse 13 million annual visitors to the nine partner zoos. Additional stakeholders include zoo docents, interpreters and educators, as well as the partnership technical team in the fields of learning innovations, technological tools, research review and education practice. The core goals of the planning phase are to a) develop and extend the strong multidisciplinary partnership, b) conduct research needed to understand the preconceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and learning modes of zoo visitors regarding climate change; and c) identify and prototype innovative learning environments and tools. Internal and external evaluations will be conducted by Facet Innovations of Seattle, WA. Activities to achieve these goals include assessments and stakeholder workshops to inventory potential resources at zoos; surveys of zoo visitors to examine demographic, socioeconomic, and technology access parameters of zoo visitors and their existing opinions; and initial development and testing of participatory, experiential activities and technological tools to facilitate learning about the complex system principles underlying the climate system. The long-term vision centers on the development of a network of U.S. zoos, in partnership with climate change domain scientists, learning scientists, conservation psychologists, and other stakeholders, serving as a sustainable infrastructure to investigate strategies designed to foster changes in public attitudes, understandings, and behavior surrounding climate change.
Twin Cities Public Television will produce six new episodes for the Dragonfly TV GPS (Going Places in Science) series in order to inform a mass audience of children, adults and educators about the revolutionary advances taking place in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The new programs will shine the DragonflyTV GPS spotlight on the network of science museums in the NISE Network, showcasing the new nanoscience programs and exhibits that are currently being developed. DragonflyTV, a weekly science television series targeted at children ages 8-12, presents children engaged in inquiry-based investigations, on-location in science centers across America. Each investigation will demonstrate the direct connection between learning experiences in science centers and the application of those lessons in everyday life. Each Nanoworld episode will apply the Dragonfly "Real Kids . . . Real Science" model, communicating both the scientific process and basic concepts in nanoscience. The DragonflyTV GPS will involve collaboration with the NISE Network, led by the Museum of Science in Boston, the Exploratorium, and the Science Museum of Minnesota. The episodes will be distributed by PBS Plus. Ancillary products will include an Educator's Guide, a Nanoworld poster, and a website featured on pbskids.org/go. Multimedia Research and will conduct formative and summative evaluations of the television production. Inverness Research will evaluate the collaborative process between TPT and the museum partners, and identify specific lessons learned by each group.