The Maryland Science Center, in cooperation with the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (JHMI) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, developed and produced BodyLink, a unique health sciences update center. The group did so with support from the National Institutes of Health SEPA (Science Education Partnership Award) Program, BodyLink, which is modeled after the Maryland Science Center's praised SpaceLink space science update center, will make today's medical and health news clear and relevant for visitors, young and old. Science and technology centers have long struggled with ways to acquaint visitors with the latest and greatest discoveries in health and biomedical science, and to interpret the significance of these findings for all ages. Museums can no longer be content with presenting only basic science, and need to expand their role as public communicators of science by presenting cutting-edge research, and by interpreting and explaining this information for visitors. BodyLink is a 1,500-square foot multimedia center where visitors can discover and appreciate the wonders of cutting-edge medical research (basic research, as well as clinical research) through interactive exhibits, stunning imagery, and facilitated demonstrations in a multimedia driven programmable space. BodyLink also includes WetLab, an open-access microbiology laboratory facility that allows visitors to conduct scientific investigations using state-of-the art research technology. Visitors can extract DNA from wheat germ, test common anti-microbial products on live bacteria, and learn Gram staining techniques, among other activities. Bodying will further serve school groups, general museum visitors, and remote-learning participants through the interactive website. BodyLink also incorporates an internship program for graduate students from the Maryland Science Center's collaborating universities. These internships give the graduate students an opportunity to interact with the general public to enhance their scientific communication skills and give them first-hand experience with investigating public understanding of scientific research.
Summative evaluation plays a critical role in documenting the impacts of informal science education (ISE), potentially contributing to the ISE knowledge base and informing ongoing improvements in practice and decision-making. In response to the growing demand for capacity-building in ISE evaluation, this paper presents a framework for summative evaluation based on an extensive review of literature and research-based refinements. The framework synthesizes key elements of high-quality summative evaluation into three dimensions: (a) Intervention Rationale, (b) Methodological Rigor and
This is a handout from the Science Learning Plus (SL+) Forum held on InformalScience.org from July 6-17, 2015. It lists and describes resources about research and practice collaborations.
Summative evaluations of museum exhibitions are generally conducted with the aims of measuring whether an exhibition met its goals, identifying areas for improvement, and assessing impact. In many cases, evaluation studies also serve to advance the field by providing lessons for funders, policy makers, or practitioners beyond the project. This report includes details from summative evaluations that included recommendations, particularly those that might be useful for lessons learned and suggestions for improvements to the exhibitions that were evaluated. Using a bottom-up method of review, the
The EndNote library includes citations for all 520 reports that were coded as part of the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project. PDF copies of each report are included with the citations. This is a file downloaded from EndNote that can be imported into Mendeley citation management software. Disclaimer: Citations may need to be cleaned once imported into Mendeley, as it may not be a clean transfer from EndNote.
The EndNote library includes citations for all 520 reports that were coded as part of the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project. PDF copies of each report are included with the citations.
This worksheet helps you think through ways you might use the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project’s resources to plan your own evaluation or learn about evaluation practices in the informal learning field.
This zip file includes the 520 reports that were downloaded from informalscience.org and coded as part of the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project. Each of the reports is referred to by a project ID number that is used across all of the BISE resources.
This document provides examples of questions you can answer in NVivo by running matrix queries, running coding queries, and creating sets. It was created to help users navigate the NVivo Database as part of the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project.
BISE’s NVivo database includes all of the coding applied by the BISE team based on the BISE Coding Framework. This includes codes that were applied to specific sections of a report (referred to as “nodes” in Nvivo) and codes that were applied to an entire report (referred to as “attributes” in Nvivo). For Mac or NVivo 9 versions, visit the VSA website at http://www.visitorstudies.org/bise.
This paper presents a conceptual framework for analyzing how researchers and district leaders perceive and navigate differences they encounter in the context of research-practice partnerships. Our framework contrasts with images of partnership work as facilitating the translation of research into practice. Instead, we argue that partnership activity is best viewed as a form of joint work requiring mutual engagement across multiple boundaries. Drawing on a cultural-historical account of learning across boundaries (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011) and evidence from a study of two longterm partnerships