To address a lack of informal science education opportunities and to increase community capacity to support STEM education for their children, Washington State University's Yakima Valley/Tri Cities MESA program, the Pacific Science Center, and KDNA Educational Radio have developed a set of informal science initiatives that offer complementary learning opportunities for rural Latino families. The goal of this four-year program is to create a sustainable informal science infrastructure in southeastern Washington State to serve families, increase parental awareness, support and involvement in science education and ultimately increase the numbers of rural Latino youth pursuing STEM-related under graduate studies. This program is presented in English and Spanish languages in all of its interconnected deliverables: Two mobile exhibits, beginning with one focused on agricultural and environmental science developed by The Pacific Science (PCS) Center; Curriculum and training in agriculture, life sciences and facilitating learning; Curriculum and training for community members to provide support to parents in encouraging the academic aspirations of their children developed by PSC and MESA; 420 Youth and parents from the MESA program trained to interpret exhibits and run workshops, community festivals, family science workshops and Saturday programs throughout the community; Four annual community festivals, quarterly Family Saturday events, and Family Science Workshops reaching 20,000 people over the four-year project; Take home activities, science assemblies, a website and CDs with music and science programming for community events; A large media initiative including monthly one hour call-in radio programs featuring science experts, teachers, professionals, students and parents, 60-second messages promoting science concepts and resources and a publicity campaign in print, radio and TV to promote community festivals. These venues reach 12,500-25,000 people each; A program manual that includes training, curriculum and collaborative strategies used by the project team. Overall Accesso la Ciencia connects parents and children through fun community activities to Pasco School District's current LASER science education reform effort. This project complements the school districts effort by providing a strong community support initiative in informal science education. Each activity done in the community combines topics of interest to rural Latinos (agriculture for instance) to concepts being taught in the schools, while also providing tools and support to parents that increases their awareness of opportunities for their children in STEM education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
James PrattD. Janae' LandisDonald LynchMichael Trevisan
The museum of Science proposes to travel a 3,000 square foot exhibit entitled "Bogs". The exhibit will introduce a poorly understood habitat, acidic wetlands, in an interdisciplinary way. the peculiar physical features of bogs has led to a popular view of them as fearful and unhealthy places. This view has led in turn, to their destruction. To show the value of bogs, the exhibit will display their unique natural history. In addition, the exhibit will explore the relationship between people and bogs in modern and pre-historic times. in Europe and in North America. The exhibit will debut at the Museum of Science, and then tour to other museums in North America.
This report presents the findings from a front-end evaluation of the Draper Museum of Natural History (DMNH) that is being developed by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (BBHC) in Cody, Wyoming. For this study, Randi Korn & Associates (RK&A) conducted focus groups and interviews to help the exhibition development team better understand the target audiences - tourists and residents - and find common ground between the content, themes, and interpretive strategy of the DMNH and its potential visitors. Data were collected in March, April, and May 2001.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Buffalo Bill Historical Center
This report presents findings from a comprehensive summative evaluation conducted by Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A), of Exploring Life on Earth, a National Science Foundation funded exhibition developed by the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM). The evaluation documents the effectiveness of the exhibition and provides recommendations for remediation. Data were collected from May to August 2002 and include in-depth interviews, group discussions, timing and tracking observations, self-reported path identifications, and focused observations and interviews.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Milwaukee Public Museum
Yale Peabody Museum is developing an exhibition for the general public to introduce and interpret the Tree of Life online project that involves many universities and museums and is being supported by the National Science Foundation. This front-end visitor study was conducted to inform exhibition development about the potential audience's understanding of Trees. Interview forms and images are included in the appendix of this report.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), with major funding from the National Science Foundation, developed the Animal Secrets exhibition for children ages 3-8 and their families. The exhibition seeks to provide families with an opportunity to discover nature from an animal's point of view as they explore immersive, naturalistic environments including a meadow, stream, woodland, cave, and naturalists' tent. The exhibit's "big idea" is for visitors to develop a sense of wonder about nature by exploring the secret world of animals. Evaluation instruments and surveys are included in the
In this article, Peter Kuttner FAIA, President of Cambridge Seven Associates, Architects and Exhibit Designers and Director of the American Institute of Architects, argues that museums have a unique responsibility to pursue sustainable design. Kuttner outlines the historical evolution of sustainable exhibit design, the LEED rating system, and the role museums should play in the "green movement" with the California Academy of Science as an outstanding exemplar.
This article features three critiques of the exhibition "MN150" at the Minnesota History Center, part of the celebration of the Sesquicentennial of the State of Minnesota. Roger Barrett, Exhibit Designer at the Science Museum of Minnesota, Liza Pryor, Project Leader in the Exhibits Department at the Science Museum of Minnesota, and Jeanne Vergeront, Principal of Vergeront Museum Planning, each provide an assessment of the exhibition.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Roger BarrettLiza PryerJeanne W. Vergeront
In this article, John Jacobsen, CEO and CO-PI at the White Oak Institute, President of White Oak Associates, and Co-Chair of the Professional Interest Committee for Green Museums (PIC Green), explores sustainable design and argues that large museums have a lot to learn from smaller institutions. Jacobsen outlines how and why museums should take a "leaner and greener" approach.
In this article, Lea T.F. Warden, Independent Researcher/Collections Manager, examines traveling exhibitions and their impact on the environment. Warden discusses there interrelated aspects of traveling exhibitions where resource conservation is particularly in need of improvement: transportation, packaging, and scheduling. Warden argues that museums must take more responsibility for the role it plays in the larger context of environmental degradation if they want to continue to produce and house traveling exhibitions.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lea T.F. WardenNational Association for Museum Exhibition
In this article, Eric Siegel, Director and Chief Content Officer at the New York Hall of Science, addresses examples of exhibitions that attempt to create experiences that communicate phenomena too big, small, slow, or abstract for normal sensory comprehension. This article also includes a case study by Gretchen Baker, Exhibition Development Manager at the Field Museum, and a case study by Tim Martin, Principal of Tim Martin Design.
In this article, Joan Krevlin, Partner at BKSK Architects, discusses the "Preschool Playground" exhibition at the New York Hall of Science, where children discover the environment and learn principles of science through sensory exploration. Krevlin outlines the background, planning process, and design of the unique exhibit.