It’s a great job when you get to do stuff just for fun. For the last few days, I’ve been at the Science Museum of Minnesota, consulting on their new exhibit? Theatrical performance? Interactive game? called Infestation: The Evolution Begins. It’s a 3-part project funded by NSF to help teach key concepts of evolution to kids, and it’s looking pretty amazing.The first part is done, and it’s a theatrical event where the concepts are explained entertainingly, and the audience are introduced to little imaginary creatures called VISTAs. If you go to SMM today, you can watch the whole show yourself
This was the poster displayed at the NSF AISL PI Conference in Alexandria, VA, in February of 2019.
Other materials included draft scripts, suggested findings, and VISTA props and stickers that are part of the game/show.
This study was designed to examine narratives that families recorded shortly after visiting the Tinkering Lab at the Chicago Children’s Museum. We view this work as intersecting with the event memory literature concerning variations in parental reminiscing styles for talking about past events (Fivush, Haden, Reese, 2006). The study also connects with efforts to assess learning in museum settings (Haden, Cohen, Uttal, & Marcus, 2016).
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lauren PaganoDanielle NesiDestinee JohnsonDiana AcostaCatherine HadenDavid UttalPerla Gamez
Informal science learning (ISL) organizations that are successful at providing meaningful science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) experiences for Latino children, youth, and their families share some common traits. They have leaders and staff who believe in the importance of developing culturally relevant models and frameworks that meet the needs and acknowledge the legacy of STEAM in Latino communities. Such organizations are willing to take risks to create experiences that are culturally meaningful, garner funding and implement programs by working closely with their
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cheryl JuarezVerónika NúñezExploratorium
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) contracted RK&A to conduct an evaluation of the Inside|Out program, which brings high-quality reproductions of masterpieces from the museum’s collection to outdoor venues throughout Metro Detroit. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to: 1) gauge the impact of Inside|Out on communities; 2) identify best practices from Inside|Out; and 3) identify how, if at all, Inside|Out can help support the DIA’s strategic plan.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A used a mixed-methods approach for this study which focused on three audiences: DIA staff
The intent of this five-year project is to design, deliver, and study professional development for Informal Science Learning (ISL) educators in the arena of equity-focused STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) teaching and learning. While the strategy of integrating art and science to promote interest, identity, and other STEM-related learning has grown in recent years, this domain is still nascent with respect to a guiding set of best practices. Through prior work, the team has developed and implemented a set of design principles that incorporate effective practices for broadening participation of girls in science via science-art integration on the topic of the biology, chemistry and optics of "Colors in Nature." The continued initiative would impact the ISL field by providing a mechanism for ISL educators in museums, libraries and after-school programs to adopt and implement these STEAM design principles into their work. The team will lead long-term (12-18 months) professional development activities for ISL educators, including: 1) in-person workshops that leverage their four previously developed kits; 2) online, asynchronous learning activities featuring interactive instructional videos around their STEAM design principles; 3) synchronous sessions to debrief content and foster communities of practice; and 4) guided design work around the development or redesign of STEAM activities. In the first four years of the project, the team will work with four core institutional partners (Sitka Sound Science Center, Sno-Isle Libraries, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District after-school program, and the Pima County Public Library system) across three states (Alaska, Washington, and Arizona). In the project's later stages, they will disseminate their learning tools to a broad, national audience. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
The project has three main goals: (1) To support ISL educators in offering meaningful STEAM activities, (2) To create institutional change among the partner organizations, and (3) To advance the ISL field with respect to professional development and designing for STEAM Programming. The research questions associated with the professional development activities address the ways in which change occurs and focus on all three levels: individual, institutional, and the ISL field. The methods are qualitative and quantitative, including videotaped observations, pre and post interviews, surveys and analysis of online and offline artifacts. In addition, the project evaluation will assess the implementation of the project's professional development model for effectiveness. Methods will include observations, interviews, surveys and Website analytics and program data.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. The project will use a design-based research process to research and develop an innovative theatrical game that will improve visitors' understanding of complex topics requiring conceptual change. This project will research a novel experience that helps visitors engage with difficult content in informal science education venues, uses existing exhibit and collection assets in a new way, and creates a venue for visitor engagement that requires less capitalization than a full exhibition project. For the public, this project will blend best practices from exhibit development, museum theater, and facilitation with emerging theories about game-based learning to create a novel experience that deeply engages visitors with an evolution storyline and allows them to explore the museum and interact with one another in new ways. For the field, the project will examine how theatrical games can be valuable, viable experiences in museum environments and what game mechanics and supports contribute to players' conceptual thinking. While the project's games with theatrical elements will focus on evolution, the tested strategies will provide valuable information about effective approaches for informal STEM education more broadly wherever audiences exhibit major misconceptions or discomfort with scientific ideas. The project will disseminate findings through conferences and workshops, academic reports, a research-to-practice implementation guide, and a training video about best practices for engaging the public in theatrical gaming.
The project will focus on the creation and modification of a theoretical framework that describes the content, program format, and degree of facilitation necessary to create experiences that support conceptual change in visitors' thinking about evolution--and, by extension, other complex topics. The project team and advisors will collaboratively will build varying levels of facilitation and challenge into theatrical programming that connects objects and experiences across the museum to help visitors construct a story of evolution. Project research will focus on the creation of three variants of a theatrical game to test a theoretical framework that describes the game dynamics and facilitation necessary for experiences that support conceptual shifts in visitors' understanding about evolution. This work will take place in four phases, and will be conducted by researchers at the Science Museum of Minnesota with input and review through an external evaluation process. The questions guiding the research are: (1) How, and in what ways, do game design features support conceptual shifts in evolution concepts?; (2) Do player outcomes differ in each game? If so, in what ways?; (3) What other factors (player profile, collaboration, evolution beliefs) influence player outcomes? (4) What are the best practices for facilitating the games and supporting visitors' experiences? The research will contribute to the under-studied field of participatory museum theatre experiences; broaden our understanding of the roles facilitation and gameplay have in informal learning; and help exhibit and program developers make informed choices about the potential of various exhibit components and aligned programming.
The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct reflective case studies of the Outpost, a mobile art museum that took up temporary residence at a variety of sites across Baltimore from 2014-2016. At each site, visitors to the Outpost had the opportunity to view reproductions of artworks from the museum’s collection, make art, and share their experiences of place, home, and life in Baltimore.
RK&A conducted case studies of 10 former Outpost sites, which the BMA chose because they represented a variety of host organization types (e.g., social
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephanie DowneyCathy SigmondBaltimore Museum of Art
This article from Fortune explores business models for free art museums, and the tension between accessibility and the revenue needed for an operating budget.
Maker Corps is a program delivered by the Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed) to increase organizational capacity to develop and deliver maker programing. Since its inception in 2013, the program has grown to support over 100 organizations by providing professional development, connections to a community of other maker educators and individualized support. Over time the program elements have changed in response to feedback from participants, collaboration with evaluators and shifts in focus for Maker Ed’s goals. In the spirit of maker education – tinkering, observing, responding, iterating –
As a leader in the science museum field, the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) is a destination for hands-on, interactive exhibitions and innovative programs. NYSCI’s Design-Make-Play (DMP) pedagogical approach to STEM learning recognizes that what is essential is not only the content—what is being taught—but how teaching and learning are imagined through the curriculum. This commitment to practice builds off of interest-based learning research, which emphasizes that all learners should feel a sense of efficacy and possibility. The hallmarks of this approach include deep personal engagement
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amanda SolarshGina TesorieroMichaela LabrioleTara Chudoba