In this article, Stephen Bitgood and Arlene Benefield, both of the Center for Social Design at Jacksonville State University, present a critical appraisal of "The Heart Exhibition" which was set to undergo changes at the Franklin Institute of Science. This critical appraisal differs from an objective evaluation in that it is based on the opinions of the visitor experts (Bitgood and Benefield). The authors provide analysis and recommendations for each element of the exhibition.
In this article, Patricia Munro discusses the "Baffling Beauty" project developed by the Anstiftung, a nonprofit research organization in Munich. Munro summarizes the development of this "health forum," traveling exhibition as well as how evaluation techniques were integrated into the exhibit planning and implementation process.
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Patricia MunroVisitor Studies Association
In this article, Hans-Joachim Klein, of the University of Karlsruhe, and Patricia Munro discuss a comparative study of four health exhibitions to asses their effectiveness as a method of health promotion.
In this article, Gillian Savage of Environmetrics (Sydney) discusses exhibit planning and research efforts for the development of the Visitor Center at the Australian Institute of Sport.
In this article, Barry Aprison, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, discusses the museum's "Prenatal Development" display, one of the oldest science exhibits in the US. Aprison discusses the success of the exhibit and cites recent visitor evaluation studies.
Informal science education creates opportunities for the general public to learn about complex health and science topics. Tissue engineering is a fast-growing field of medical science that combines advanced chemistries to create synthetic scaffolds, stem cells, and growth factors that individually or in combination can support the bodies own healing powers to remedy a range of maladies. Health literacy about this topic is increasingly important as our population ages and as treatments become more technologically advanced. We are using a science center planetarium as a projection space to
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Anna WilsonLaura GonzalezJohn Pollock
Understanding a community's concerns and informational needs is crucial to conducting and improving environmental health research and literacy initiatives. We hypothesized that analysis of community inquiries over time at a legacy mining site would be an effective method for assessing environmental health literacy efforts and determining whether community concerns were thoroughly addressed. Through a qualitative analysis, we determined community concerns at the time of being listed as a Superfund site. We analyzed how community concerns changed from this starting point over the subsequent
A research project that is only expert-driven may ignore the role of local knowledge in research, often gives low priority to the development of a comprehensive communication strategy to engage the community, and may not deliver the results of the study to the community in an effective way. Objective: To demonstrate how a research program can respond to a community research need, establish a community-academic partnership, and build a co-created citizen science program. Methods: A place-based, community-driven project was designed where academics and community members maintained a reciprocal
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Univeristy of Wisconsin- StoutMonica Ramirez-AndreottaMark BrusseauJanick ArtiolaRaina MaierA Jay Gandolfi
The article focuses on a study guided by identity theory and a model of interest development to assess the use of comic books for conveying science information. The study employs viruses as scientific content which is reviewed to disseminate, and provide evidence regarding the limited knowledge of general public. It mentions that key concepts are summarized to compare comic and essay formats for disseminating scientific information.
This article is a case study describing how one science teacher makes everyday science in the community and classroom science intersect. This article is useful to help science educators relate information from home and neighborhoods to scientific content. The concept of transformative boundary objects is introduced in this article and can aid educators design projects that incorporate important science going on in their communities to foster long-term public engagement in science.
Mobile technology can be used to scaffold inquiry-based learning, enabling learners to work across settings and times, singly or in collaborative groups. It can expand learners’ opportunities to understand the nature of inquiry whilst they engage with the scientific content of a specific inquiry. This Sharples et al. paper reports on the use of the mobile computer-based inquiry toolkit nQuire. Teachers found the tool useful in helping students to make sense of data from varied settings.
This longitudinal study examined whether premedical students’ educational orientation contributed to their chances of completing a STEM degree. Two different orientations were tested; a narrow one grounded by interests in obtaining status and a more expansive orientation grounded by interests in engaging with a broader set of learning goals and communities. The primary source of data came from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2004 Freshman Survey (TFS) and 2008 College Senior Survey (CSS). The main analyses included 613 students who reported interest in pursuing a medical
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Mitchell ChangMichael SohKevin EaganSylvia Hurtado