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
Queens Central Library contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct an evaluation of the newly completed Children's Library and Discovery Center (CLDC), partially funded by the National Science Foundation. In addition to traditional children's library resources, the CLDC includes interactive science exhibits, programming space, and an early childhood area. The evaluation sought to understand 1) how its family customers use the new CLDC (and its exhibits) and what they most value about it, and 2) experiences of CLDC staff who interact with the customers. How did we approach this
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Queens Central Library
Bio Med Tech: Engineering for Your Health was a 2,750 square foot exhibition at the Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) that dealt with issues related to biomedical technology. Partially funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Awards program (NIH/SEPA), the project was developed through a partnership between GLSC and Case Western Reserve University. The SEPA grant also funded a variety of programming activities, including informal Exploration Cart activities in the exhibition, presentations in the exhibition's theater space, and teacher training
The Lost Ladybug Project is a citizen science project which, since its inception in 2008, has received contributions of over 13,000 images of ladybug specimens from citizen scientists in North America. Audiences impacted included adult participants (without children), families, and youth (5-12 years old) participating within classrooms or out-of-school groups. Summative evaluation, conducted in 2011, was guided by the following questions: -To what extent has the program achieved its intended science learning impacts? -How are learning outcomes different for different types of participants?
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Jessica SicklerTammy Messick CherryCornell University
The EDC Center for Children and Technology (CCT), a nonprofit international research organization, conducted the formative evaluation of the first year's implementation of the Be A Scientist! (BAS) project. The goal of this five-year afterschool family science program project is to provide quality science and engineering courses to underserved families in New York City and Los Angeles. It targeted underserved first graders and their families in the Spring 2010. Guiding by formative research questions (e.g., X) and using multi-method research approach (e.g., X), CCT researchers uncovered
This report presents an evaluation study of Soundprint Media's project, Out of This World (#0741737), which was funded by the National Science Foundation's Informal Science Education Program. The mission of the project was to introduce adult radio listeners and youth participants in museum events to the historical context and challenges faced by African-Americans and women who were involved as professionals in the United States' space program in the 1960's. The project website, capecosmos.com, included an interactive menu of activities set within the context of a NASA mission control center
One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure (OWOS) is a bi-national, China-US cooperative project to produce and distribute a planetarium show based on popular characters from Sesame Workshop's television productions in each country for preschool- and kindergarten-aged children, as well as accompanying outreach materials for children, parents and teachers to further enhance learning. The project aims to: (1) provide young Chinese and American children aged four to six with an age-appropriate introduction to astronomy; (2) promote positive attitudes toward science among young children in both
In 2001, The Franklin Institute Science Museum (TFI) received funding from the National Science Foundation to develop and implement Parent Partners in School Science (PPSS). A year project, PPSS was designed to demonstrate how a science museum can facilitate K-4 children's science learning in and out of school, working with teachers and parents from 3 urban elementary schools in Philadelphia. More specifically, three goals have informed the implementation of PPSS: 1) Promote science teaching at the elementary level; 2) Cultivate home-school collaboration in support of students' science
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jessica LukeFranklin Institute Science MuseumMartha Washington Academics PlusOlney Elementary SchoolR.B. Pollock Elementary SchoolSusan Foutz
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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Jessica SicklerCornell UniversityTammy Messick Cherry
This formative evaluation gathered feedback from after-school group leaders and their 3rd-5th grade youth in response to two activities included in the Cyberchase Workshops-In-A-Box. The user-based feedback will assist with the design of new after-school materials. The general goals for the research were:To explore reactions to the workshop guide generally To assess appeal of the two activities To pinpoint difficulties in the implementation of the two activities To estimate comprehension of the activity content.To evaluate leader interest in further activities.Cyberchase is the Emmy Award
WNET planned an initiative to involve museums in the outreach associated with Season V of Cyberchase. A written feedback survey gathered information from 32 museums as to their current practices and recommendations with respect to museum kits, discovery carts, discovery boxes, video screenings and educational computer games. The goal of the survey was to assess the needs of the museums and to guide the development of an outreach plan for Season V. Cyberchase is the Emmy Award-winning mathematics series and website on PBS KIDS GO! using broadcast, web, new media and educational outreach to
This report describes the findings of an evaluation of the K-5 school tour program at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington. These school tours observed in this study are based in the methods of the educational model of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), but take place during hour-long tours in the galleries, rather than repeatedly over longer periods of time, and are integrated with other questions, information, and activities developed specifically at the Frye. The findings reveal positive correlations between the use of VTS questions by gallery guides and desired student participation
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Valerie GrabskiLauren LeClaireAmanda Mae BomarFrye Art Museum