This study looks at how characteristics of parent-child dyads, in combination with exhibit qualities, contribute to their interactions in a science center. Parent schooling, parent and child attitudes toward science, and the type of activity supported at the exhibits play a role in how they interact together. For ISE professionals, this study shows that parents exert a great deal of influence over what and how their children feel and learn about science.
A modified guided tour increased students’ intrinsic motivation, interest, and perceived competence, and was more interesting and less boring than a traditional docent-led tour. Providing students with more opportunities for group work and active participation led to improvement in understanding and motivational and emotional states during the visit. Experiencing less negative emotions (anger) during the visit and prior knowledge contributed to a better understanding.
In this paper, the learning resources and museum visit that formed part of an undergraduate teaching sequence on the special theory of relativity are described and discussed. Findings highlight the importance of integrating pre- and post-visit activities, although the methods used to evaluate the impact of the experience do not offer conclusive results.
The authors of this paper were interested in knowing how parents can support exploratory behaviors of their preschool-aged children at museum exhibits. They developed a quantitative instrument based on psychological literature on exploration and play in order to describe and quantify young children's increasing levels of exploration of their environment. They then tested the measurement tool with parents and their preschool-aged children to investigate what types of adult coaching would achieve high-level exploratory behavior at various exhibits.
In teacher-student interactions during pre-visit, in-museum, and post–field trip interactions, open-ended styles of questions tended to happen more often during the in-museum part of the field trip, although closed-ended questions were still more frequent overall.
Conceived as part the Denver Evaluation Network, the City Value Study sought to understand whether people visiting one of the cultural institutions in the Network valued that museum. Further, participants were asked to explain, in their own words, more about why they valued that particular institution; what that museum offered themselves, their family, and their community; and what other leisure options they had considered for the day. Following these interview questions, administered by DMNS Research Assistants, each respondent completed a short, demographic questionnaire. Data collection
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Laureen TrainerDenver Museum of Nature & Science
Professionals from the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), New Knowledge Organization, and faculty from Hunter College developed Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think (WM) as a traveling exhibition with ancillary programs about animal cognition to be presented in both science centers and zoos. The project primary goal is to develop public understanding of the complex concept of animal cognition. Its secondary objective is to encourage sustainable science center-zoo partnership in the communities that host Wild Minds. The Wild Minds science center exhibition consists of discreet stand-alone
The first phase of the evaluation, a front-end visitor study, assessing visitors' knowledge of and interest in space science and the cosmos, was conducted in May and June of 2000 at Boston's Museum of Science (MOS). The evaluation's second phase, a formative evaluation of the exhibition prototype, was completed in February of 2001 at the MOS. This summative report represents the third round of the evaluation process conducted by PERG, and is an evaluation of the current Cosmic Questions exhibition and related activities, based on data obtained by evaluators at two sites Boston's Museum of
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Joan KarpJudah LeblangSusan Baker CohenHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose (CDM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of the Mammoth Discovery! exhibition, one part of a comprehensive project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Mammoth Discovery! features the story of Lupe, fossilized mammoth bones found in San Jose and includes a full-size replica of Lupe and Lupe's actual skull, femur, and pelvis fossils. Through engagement with the exhibition, CDM intends for children and their caregivers to engage in scientific thinking, become aware that they are engaging in a
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Children's Discovery Museum
PlanetMania is an iOS and Android mobile app game produced by Maryland Science Center and Eduweb, Inc. in 2012 to accompany the Center's latest permanent exhibit, entitled Life Beyond Earth. Multimedia Research carried out a summative evaluation of the PlanetMania app, focusing on the app's usage in the exhibit, appeal, value and learning outcomes. The evaluation is a pre-post quasi-experimental study in which a sample of 24 9-11 year olds were interviewed prior to and after experiencing the app and exhibit as well as observed during their exposure to the app and exhibit. The app game combines
PERG conducted the formative and summative evaluations of Windows on Earth, a project led by the Center for Earth and Space Science Education (CESSE) at TERC. The project included numerous partners and contributors who focused on the development of the Windows on Earth software, exhibit and website, as well as four museums who participated in the development and evaluation process: Boston's Museum of Science, (MOS), the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, (A&S), the St. Louis Science Center (SLSC), and the Montshire Museum of Science (MM) in Vermont. The project also coordinated some programming
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Judah LeblangJoan KarpTERC IncJodi Sandler
Our Year 3 formative evaluation of Go Botany, a four-year NSF-funded project focused on botanical learning, centered on tracking the continued development and the launch of the Go Botany Simple Key, which contains botanical data on more than 1200 native plants in the New England region. The project is a collaboration between the New England Wild Flower Society and three partnering institutions: The Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, VT; The Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, Maine; and the Yale Peabody Museum on Natural History in New Haven, CT. During Year 3, the Go Botany Simple Key was
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Judah LeblangNew England Wild Flower Society