The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), with major funding from the National Science Foundation, developed the Animal Secrets exhibition for children ages 3-8 and their families. The exhibition seeks to provide families with an opportunity to discover nature from an animal's point of view as they explore immersive, naturalistic environments including a meadow, stream, woodland, cave, and naturalists' tent. The exhibit's "big idea" is for visitors to develop a sense of wonder about nature by exploring the secret world of animals. Evaluation instruments and surveys are included in the
After completing the Biomimicry: Synthetic Gecko Tape activity, surveys were distributed to fourteen visitors. The survey was designed to elicit information regarding the degree of visitor interest, enjoyment, and ease in understanding the activity. Responding visitors for this activity actually participated in a week-long program; some of their responses reflect their participation in numerous activities.
This formative evaluation looks at the second version of a poster created to help visitors visualize the nanoscale structures in a butterfly wing. This version includes annotations to call out the different structures of the butterfly wing and reflects changes made to better align the illustration with scientific content.
This formative evaluation was conducted to see how the addition of an interactive media piece enhanced visitors' understanding of Nasturtium, a life sciences exhibit that demonstrates the water repelling properties of nasturtium leaves. The media piece allows the visitor to view leaf structures at progressively higher magnifications to better illustrate their scale and function. The interview questions used in this study are included in the appendix of this report.
This report documents two formative evaluations on an interactive media piece that allows its users to zoom in from a human hand to an atom. This zoom uses a spiral to connote zooming and is a departure from a more conventional zoom in which each successive image is a magnification of a portion of the preceding image. Interview protocols are included in the appendix of this report.
The Science Museum of Minnesota surveyed 30 museum visitors after they used the Changing Colors exhibit. This formative testing of the exhibit assessed its ability to teach about nanoscale structures and the uses of nanophenomena to create new products.
As teachers respond to the demands of educational reform and strive to meet increasing pressures of educational benchmarks and standards, there is less and less time to utilize innovative teaching techniques. Education reform expectations, coupled with increasing class size and shrinking budgets has significantly impacted the way that science education is delivered in schools. 4-H Wildlife Stewards, a Master Science Educator's Program was developed in response to these emerging concerns in science education. The program is based on the premise that trained volunteer Master Science Educators
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mary ArnoldMichael DaltonMaggie LivesayRobin Galloway
This report summarizes a summative evaluation of Amazing Feats of Aging, an exhibition developed by staff at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon. Patricia McNamara, an independent evaluator, designed this study to document the exhibition's impact on visitors at two locations: its permanent installation at OMSI itself and at the installation of the exhibit's traveling version at the Lafayette Museum of Natural History (LMNH) in Lafayette, Louisiana. Data collection strategies included visitor interviews, self-administered questionnaires and unobtrusive
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Patricia McNamaraOregon Museum of Science and Industry
The University of Pennsylvania Museum has received a grant from the Philadelphia History Exhibitions Initiative (PHEI) to plan an exhibit on human evolution. The exhibit and associated educational programs will be produced and exhibited in Philadelphia and then travel to other venues across the United States. The working title for the exhibition is Being Human: A Design in Process. The University Museum contracted with Minda Borun, Museum Solutions, to conduct and interpret a series of focus groups with significant audience segments to assess their knowledge, preferences, and feelings about
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Minda BorunUniversity of Pennsylvania Museum
The Maryland Science Center has received a SEPA grant to develop an exhibition, intern program and web site focusing on cell biology and stem cell research. The working title of the exhibition is Cellular Universe. The exhibit is intended to serve the following audiences: Families with children age nine and older; School groups (grades four and up); Adults; 9th grade underserved high school students in three local schools and/or community centers. Topics the exhibit will treat include: Structure and function of cells; Stem cells and their potential, the controversy surrounding stem cell
The Indiana State Museum is planning a new, comprehensive exhibition about the history and uses of corn, from 8000 years ago to the present. The environmental, economic, and cultural impacts of the development of corn breeding will be explored. A front-end evaluation was conducted to see what visitors know about the biology and uses of this plant.
In April 2001, the Museum of Science in Boston launched the Current Science & Technology Center, an effort to engage public and school audiences in leading edge research and to provide depth and context for science and technology stories in the news within a museum context and through various outreach methods. Health science programming in the CS&T Center is researched, produced and delivered to primarily public audiences in partnership with selected New England area medical and public health schools, teaching hospitals, and biomedical research institutes. This Health Science Education