The Maker Movement is inspiring thousands of young people across the nation to tinker with and tackle problems involving design, engineering and programming. This report from the third Making Meaning Symposium takes a critical look at describing and documenting learning that takes place when young people make. The symposium brought together nearly 150 makers, funders, educational researchers, educators from K–12 and informal settings, museum and community based leaders, and policymakers. The aim of this national symposium was to craft a strategy for documenting the variety of learning and
Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) is first and foremost a volume of record comprising the major high-quality quantitative data on the U.S. and international science and engineering enterprise. SEI is factual and policy neutral. It does not offer policy options, and it does not make policy recommendations. SEI employs a variety of presentation styles—tables, figures, narrative text, bulleted text, Web-based links, highlights, introductions, conclusions, reference lists—to make the data accessible to readers with different information needs and different information-processing preferences
Learning Science in Informal Environments draws together disparate literatures, synthesizes the state of knowledge, and articulates a common framework for the next generation of research on learning science in informal environments across a life span. Contributors include recognized experts in a range of disciplines--research and evaluation, exhibit designers, program developers, and educators. They also have experience in a range of settings--museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, aquariums, zoos, state parks, and botanical gardens. Learning Science
This research study was designed to explore and document the current “landscape” of the informal science education community. The authors outline the theoretical framework used to approach their research, research goals and design, methods, results, and conclusions and recommendations. Based on the authors' preliminary and exploratory investigation, they argue that currently the ISE community does not function as an effective community of practice. However, many of the pieces that are necessary for ISE to become a true community of practice are currently in place. The report raises the
During the spring of 2006, American Institutes for Research (AIR) conducted an evaluation study on behalf of WGBH. The purpose of the study was to gather data related to the effectiveness of the FETCH! Activity Guide, which was designed to extend the teachings of a new children's show, "FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman. The four main study objectives were to: Assess the activities' appeal for children (for example, do children enjoy the activities, do they realize they are learning about science, etc.?) Assess whether the facilitators liked the Activity Guide and deemed it appropriate for their after
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted summative evaluation of the educational resources kit for Forgotten Genius, a program from the PBS television series Lives in Science. Forgotten Genius explored the life of the scientist Percy Julian, an African American chemist who persevered in the face of racism to become one of the great scientists and inventors of the 20th century. GRG's evaluation focused on how public librarians used and assessed the educational resources kit, as well as their suggestions for revising the kit and conducting future science-related library outreach. The
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marianne McPhersonJennie MurackIrene F GoodmanWGBH
In 1998, the Exploratorium staff submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to develop a collection of life science exhibits "to offer science center visitors new ways to explore characteristics shared by all living things." The intention was to combine existing Exploratorium components as well as new exhibits and emphasize in the exhibit collection "that all life, no matter how diverse, shares common essential traits." This proposal was one of a series planned to develop permanent exhibits at the Exploratorium. The evaluation was intended to document several aspects of visitors'
Underground Adventure opened at The Field Museum in March 1999. Covering 15,000 square feet, it continues to be a major draw in the museum. Determining the extent to which the exhibition is achieving its original goals and assessing the nature of its visitor experience will help us plan for future modifications. The Field Museum asked Selinda Research Associates (SRA) to plan, set up, and conduct such a final summative/remedial evaluation. We collected data from November 1999 through June 2000 using a naturalistic methodology and qualitative methods. A qualitative approach to visitor research
This report summarizes the evaluation of the first 20 months of the National Science Foundation-funded tour of the Traveling Experiment Gallery. The Traveling Experiment Gallery is the touring version of Science Museum of Minnesota's successful core science hall, the Experiment Gallery. The evaluation of the Traveling Experiment Gallery was conducted using naturalistic inquiry methodology. Depth interviews were conducted with 28 staff and six volunteers at the five museums and science centers which have hosted the exhibition. The evaluators also spent almost 30 hours observing visitors, floor
This report presents findings from a summative evaluation of Electric Space, a traveling exhibition developed by the Space Science Institute, with major funding provided by the Informal Science Education Program of the National Science Foundation. This study is the third phase of evaluation conducted by Randi Korn & Associates in association with this project. After performing both front-end and formative evaluations during the exhibition development process, this summative study was conducted on the completed traveling version of Electric Space at two host sites. This final study was
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Space Science Institute
This report presents the findings of a summative evaluation of MarQuest, conducted by Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A), for the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. MarsQuest is a traveling exhibition funded by the National Science Foundation and, as such, data collection took place at two venues: in July 2001 at the Park Place Mall in Tucson, Arizona (a temporary satellite site for the Tucson Children's Museum) and in March 2002 at the Hampton Air and Space Museum in Hampton, Virginia. The evaluation was undertaken to document the scope of the exhibition's impact and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Space Science Institute
This report presents findings from an extensive summative evaluation of the Breaking Ground project (BG) conducted for both the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) and the Brooklyn Children's Museum (BCM). Breaking Ground is a collaborative project established between BBG and BCM. The products of the overall project include three exhibits (two at BBG and one at BCM) and a series of educational programs. Specifically, the project components are: the Amazing Plants exhibition and the Discovery Garden at BBG, the Plants & People exhibition at BCM, and Discovery Carts, along with the City Plant