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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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jessica SicklerTammy Messick CherryCornell University
The Language of Conservation was a collaborative project between libraries, zoos, and poets nationwide to replicate a project originally undertaken by the Central Park Zoo. The project model built zoo, library, and poet-in-residence partnerships in five host cities: Brookfield, Illinois; Jacksonville, Florida; Little Rock, Arkansas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and New Orleans, Louisiana. One aspect of the evaluation was to assess the collaborative process within each of the five partner sites, across the project as a whole, and with project leadership to determine the strengths and challenges of
The Language of Conservation was a collaborative project between libraries, zoos, and poets nationwide to replicate a project originally undertaken by the Central Park Zoo. The project model built zoo, library, and poet-in-residence partnerships in five host cities: Brookfield, Illinois; Jacksonville, Florida; Little Rock, Arkansas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and New Orleans, Louisiana. It was anticipated that the zoo exhibits would result in positive outcomes for zoo visitors who encountered the poetry, including increasing the conservation thinking and language used after a visit and creating a
The Firefly Watch project is a citizen science program where a network of volunteers across the country observe and collect data on fireflies. Participants are able to post their results to the project website, where they can share aspects of their own experiences and learn about sightings in other locations. To evaluate this program, a brief survey was conducted that probed for participant interactions with the program, learning due to project involvement and areas for potential project growth.The attached file includes slides from the PowerPoint presentation that outline the key findings
LOOP is a new animated television series from WGBH for children that is designed to improve the environmental and scientific literacy of children ages 5-8. WGBH developed a pilot episode of the program and tested it in the fall of 2010. WGBH hired independent evaluator Concord Evaluation Group, LLC (CEG) to conduct formative evaluation of the full pilot episode including the 25-minute animatic and the live-action video to assess the impact of LOOP on kids' knowledge of environmental science concepts. CEG performed an experimental study specifically a posttest-only control group design to
Summary of Findings Summative Evaluation Cielo y Tierra Noticias del Mundo Robert L. Russell, Ph.D. Learning Experience Design October 2011 Learning Experience Design conducted summative evaluation of the project entitled: Cielo y Tierra Noticias del Mundo (Sky & Earth News of the World). A series of three evaluation sessions were conducted with radio listeners to look at the impacts of the programs on their interest in the topics presented, their understanding of the content presented, and their motivation to take further action. The first two studies used focus group sessions. The third and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert RussellEarthSky Communications, Inc.Malu Jimenez
The YardMap Network (see www.yardmap.org) is an NSF-funded citizen science project at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which will allow participants to map their habitat management and carbon neutral practices in backyards and parks, interact socially within the network, and display their activities and carbon footprints in an online platform such as Google maps. In 2010, the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), in collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, conducted a front-end evaluation to assess the following evaluation questions: 1. What are gardeners', and birders', citizen
In 2007 Miami University, in partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (Zoo) and the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), received a National Science Foundation Grant to develop, create, implement, and evaluate the impacts of Wild Research, a whole zoo exhibit. The purpose of Wild Research was to promote Zoo visitors' engagement in inquiry, across generations, and increase visitors' awareness of conservation issues. ILI was charged with conducting the summative evaluation for Wild Research. This study was conducted to answer the question: What is the impact on visitors to
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) received a NOAA-ELG grant for a three-year project, entitled Exploring Earth Systems: Expanding Data Visualizations Experiences for Museum Learners (or Data Visualizations). The project focuses on the development, testing, and distribution of Visualizations for the Earth and Bio content strands of the AMNH's Science Bulletins program. The Visualizations are short media pieces that use satellite data to tell the story of Earth processes on land, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere, with the larger goals of helping viewers to understand the dynamic
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan FoutzAmerican Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) received a NOAA-ELG grant for a three-year project, entitled Exploring Earth Systems: Expanding Data Visualizations Experiences for Museum Learners (or Data Visualizations). The project focuses on the development, testing, and distribution of Visualizations for the Earth and Bio content strands of the AMNH's Science Bulletins program. The Visualizations are short media pieces that use satellite data to tell the story of Earth processes on land, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere, with the larger goals of helping viewers to understand the dynamic
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan FoutzAmerican Museum of Natural History
The Nurture Nature Foundation’s Flood Forum project, funded by a two-year National Science Foundation (NSF) planning grant effective August 1, 2009, explored innovative means to promote science learning by and for local communities. The NSF planning grant allowed Nurture Nature Foundation (NNF) to develop a model of outreach for science centers that engages rural and underserved audiences in public dialogue on the science underlying an issue of high public concern—frequent flooding in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Building on a public forum model used by other science centers such as the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Alice ApleyNurture Nature Foundation
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