Sense-making with data through the process of visualization—recognizing and constructing meaning with these data—has been of interest to learning researchers for many years. Results of a variety of data visualization projects in museums and science centers suggest that visitors have a rudimentary understanding of and ability to interpret the data that appear in even simple data visualizations. This project supports the need for data visualization experiences to be appealing, accommodate short and long-term exploration, and address a range of visitors’ prior knowledge. Front-end evaluation
The Environmental Scientist-in-Residence Program will leverage NOAA s scientific assets and personnel by combining them with the creativity and educational knowledge of the pioneer hands-on science center. To do this, the program will embed NOAA scientists in a public education laboratory at the Exploratorium. Working closely with youth Explainers, exhibit developers, and Web and interactive media producers at the Exploratorium, NOAA scientists will share instruments, data, and their professional expertise with a variety of public audiences inside the museum and on the Web. At the same time the scientists will gain valuable skills in informal science communication and education. Through cutting-edge iPad displays, screen-based visualizations, data-enriched maps and sensor displays, and innovative interactions with visitors on the museum floor, this learning laboratory will enable NOAA scientists and Exploratorium staff to investigate new hands-on techniques for engaging the public in NOAA s environmental research and monitoring efforts.
C-RISE will create a replicable, customizable model for supporting citizen engagement with scientific data and reasoning to increase community resiliency under conditions of sea level rise and storm surge. Working with NOAA partners, we will design, pilot, and deliver interactive digital learning experiences that use the best available NOAA data and tools to engage participants in the interdependence of humans and the environment, the cycles of observation and experiment that advance science knowledge, and predicted changes for sea level and storm frequency. These scientific concepts and principles will be brought to human scale through real-world planning challenges developed with our city and government partners in Portland and South Portland, Maine. Over the course of the project, thousands of citizens from nearby neighborhoods and middle school students from across Maine’s sixteen counties, will engage with scientific data and forecasts specific to Portland Harbor—Maine’s largest seaport and the second largest oil port on the east coast. Interactive learning experiences for both audiences will be delivered through GMRI’s Cohen Center for Interactive Learning—a state-of-the-art exhibit space—in the context of facilitated conversations designed to emphasize how scientific reasoning is an essential tool for addressing real and pressing community and environmental issues. The learning experiences will also be available through a public web portal, giving all area residents access to the data and forecasts. The C-RISE web portal will be available to other coastal communities with guidance for loading locally relevant NOAA data into the learning experience. An accompanying guide will support community leaders and educators to embed the interactive learning experiences effectively into community conversations around resiliency. This project is aligned with NOAA’s Education Strategic Plan 2015-2035 by forwarding environmental literacy and using emerging technologies.
Informal Community Science Investigators (iCSI) creates a network of four geographically diverse informal science institutions working together on strategies to engage youth ages 10-13 through location based augmented reality (AR) games played on smartphones. These high-interest, kid-friendly games will be used by families visiting the institutions and by youth who enroll in more intensive summer camp programs. Using AR games, participants will engage in playful but scientifically-grounded investigations drawing on each institution's research, exhibits, and natural spaces. For example, a botanical garden might engage young visitors through AR games with themes related to native and invasive species, while a zoo might create a game experience focusing on illegal wildlife trade. Participants in the iCSI summer camp program will have more intensive experiences, including work with the host institution's scientists, opportunities to develop original augmented reality games, and experiences with game-related service learning and citizen science programs. For both target groups (families and campers), the location specific games build understanding of both the institution's mission and the broader realm of scientific research and application. The project will test the notion of participants as "learner hero," the link between game play and the individual's development of competency, autonomy and the relationship to real world experience, in this case through community action on the subject of the game developed. To that end, participants will be encouraged to extend their involvement through related investigations on site and participation in community activities and projects that can be done at home. Social media tools such as Facebook and web sites managed by the host institutions will provide recognition for this extended engagement, helping participants maintain ties to the program. Additionally, program resources provide assistance to adult family members in nurturing and sustaining youth interest in STEM activities and careers. A major effort of the project will be development of a new software infrastructure called TaleBlazer for the augmented reality game that will enable teachers and students to develop their own game that incorporates real data collection and scientific model building. The new platform will enhance the game play platform MITAR developed with NSF funding.
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), with six science centers across the U.S., will develop, implement, and evaluate the National Center for Blind Youth in Science (NCBYS), a three-year full-scale development project to increase informal learning opportunities for blind youth in STEM. Through partnerships and companion research, the NCBYS will lead to greater capacity to engage the blind in informal STEM learning. The NCBYS confronts a critical area of need in STEM education, and a priority for the AISL program: the underrepresentation of people with disabilities in STEM. Educators are often unaware of methods to deliver STEM concepts to blind students, and students do not have the experience with which to advocate for accommodations. Many parents of blind students are ill-equipped to provide support or request accessible STEM adaptations. The NCBYS will expose blind youth to non-visual methods that facilitate their involvement in STEM; introduce science centers to additional non-visual methods that facilitate the involvement of the blind in their exhibits; educate parents as to their students' ability to be independent both inside and outside the STEM classroom; provide preservice teachers of blind students with hands-on experience with blind students in STEM; and conduct research to inform a field that is lacking in published material. The NCBYS will a) conduct six regional, two-day science programs for a total of 180 blind youth, one day taking place at a local science center; b) conduct concurrent onsite parent training sessions; c) incorporate preservice teachers of blind students in hands-on activities; and d) perform separate, week-long, advanced-study residential programs for 60 blind high school juniors and seniors focused on the design process and preparation for post-secondary STEM education. The NCBYS will advance knowledge and understanding in informal settings, particularly as they pertain to the underrepresented disability demographic; but it is also expected that benefits realized from the program will translate to formal arenas. The proposed team represents the varied fields that the project seeks to inform, and holds expertise in blindness education, STEM education, museum education, parent outreach, teacher training, disability research, and project management. The initiative is a unique opportunity for science centers and the disability population to collaborate for mutual benefit, with lasting implications in informal STEM delivery, parent engagement, and teacher training. It is also an innovative approach to inspiring problem-solving skills in blind high school students through the design process. A panel of experts in various STEM fields will inform content development. NCBYS advances the discovery and understanding of STEM learning for blind students by integrating significant research alongside interactive programs. The audience includes students and those responsible for delivering STEM content and educational services to blind students. For students, the program will demonstrate their ability to interface with science center activities. Students will also gain mentoring experience through activities paired with younger blind students. Parents and teachers of blind students, as well as science center personnel, will gain understanding in the experiences of the blind in STEM, and steps to facilitate their complete involvement. Older students will pursue design inquiries into STEM at a more advanced level, processes that would be explored in post-secondary pursuits. By engaging these groups, the NCBYS will build infrastructure in the informal and formal arenas. Society benefits from the inclusion of new scientific minds, resulting in a diverse workforce. The possibility for advanced study and eventual employment for blind students also reduces the possibility that they would be dependent upon society for daily care in the future. The results of the proposed project will be disseminated and published broadly through Web sites; e-mail lists; social media; student-developed e-portfolios of the design program; an audio-described video; and presentations at workshops for STEM educators, teachers of blind students, blind consumer groups, researchers in disability education, and museum personnel.
Roto, an exhibition design and production firm, contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a front-end evaluation of Speed, an exhibition being developed for The Science Museum of Virginia (SMV) in Richmond, Virginia. RK&A explored visitors’ thoughts, perceptions, and understandings of exhibition concepts related to speed, defined as change over time. How did we approach this study? RK&A worked closely with Roto to identify the goals and objectives for the Speed exhibition. Findings from the front-end evaluation were designed to help Roto and SMV find common ground between
The authors provide an analysis of pairs of children interacting with a multi-touch tabletop exhibit designed to help museum visitors learn about evolution and the tree of life. The exhibit’s aim is to inspire visitors with a sense of wonder at life’s diversity while providing insight into key evolutionary concepts such as common descent. The authors find that children negotiate their interaction with the exhibit in a variety of ways including reactive, articulated, and contemplated exploration. These strategies in turn influence the ways in which children make meaning through their
This report presents and analyzes the findings from a front-end evaluation of an exhibition being developed by the Tech Museum of Innovation about the potential of the Internet. Front-end evaluation helps planners understand how visitors comprehend and think about themes, ideas, concepts, and activities that will be displayed in an exhibition. It seeks common ground between visitors and the exhibit. Findings demonstrate people's understanding of various concepts integral to the exhibition and will inform the Tech during the exhibition development process.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Tech Museum of Innovation
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Louisville Science Center will develop "The World We Create", a 13,000 sq. ft. exhibit which will transform their second floor to an active learning environment where visitors can explore the simplest element of the creative process to the most sophisticated networks available to our society. The activities will be organized into five core exhibit areas: New Way Tunnel, Think Tank, Inventor's Garage, Chemistry Kitchen, and Tech World and will reinforce educational reform activities in math, science, problem- solving, team cooperation, and decision making. In addition to the large number of interactives, there is a substantial technology/telecommunications component known as the Tech Forum. This will serve at the home site for the Kentucky TeleLinking Network (KTLN). The educational objectives of the exhibit were developed under the guidance of prominent formal educators in the state and they address both the education reform goals of the state and national science and math standards. The exhibit has also been developed with direct participation of a number of private sector partners. It is an impressive community effort. The exhibit is scheduled to open in March, 1997.
The museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, in collaboration with the University of Chicago, proposes to develop a major new exhibit on "Imaging Science." Imaging science is a new field rapidly emerging from its roots in the physical, biological, and behavioral sciences, and the graphic arts, and is becoming increasingly important in all areas of scientific research. The primary rationale for developing an exhibit about imaging science, and related programming, is to enhance the overall scientific literacy of four million visitors that come to the Museum each year. In view of the scientific, medical, educational, and cultural value of images, the Museum and University of Chicago believe that an exhibit on imaging science will have broad appeal to museum visitors of many different ages and backgrounds. Today, scientific imaging empowers us to look inward, at the infinite complexity of ourselves, and outward to the edge of our universe. The main thrust of the exhibit will be to teach visitors how images communicate knowledge. Technological advances in computer workstations, that are revolutionizing scientific study, will be highlighted. Exhibit sections will also identify imaging science breakthroughs that will impact the lives of students and members of the workforce in the 1990s and beyond.
The New York Hall of Science will develop "Connections," a 3,500-sq. ft. interactive exhibition and related learning resources that will introduce visitors to the fundamental technology of networks. "Connections" will offer diverse audiences opportunities to explore networks, both natural and human-designed. The exhibition will highlight the fundamental characteristics of networks such as their structure, function and adaptability. The project will also produce supporting educational resources for families, after-school programs, community groups, students and teachers. Audio-tours will be produced for general visitors and for visitors with visual impairments. The Connections Discovery Lab, a 750-sq. ft. enclosed space adjacent to the exhibition, will offer scheduled workshops and drop-in programs.
The University of Florida, in collaboration with the Florida Museum of Natural History and Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, National 4-H, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, and the Institute for Learning Innovation will implement Call the Wild, a proof-of-concept project to investigate the educational outcomes of promoting understanding of the nature of science (NOS) through visitor engagement in outdoor exhibits that incorporate mobile technology to further focus attention and deliver unique content. The project will explore: (1) zoo visitor ownership of cell phones, use of the different cell phone features, and likelihood to access interactive content and activities through their phone; (2) the potential of wildlife viewing experiences and technology applications for engaging visitors in learning about NOS; and (3) the potential to measure visitor understanding of NOS related to zoo experiences. This project seeks to advance our understanding of the educational impacts of mobile telephony in informal learning environments such as zoos.