This research proposed a revised theory of how collective environmental identity is associated with engagement with the advancement of pro‐environmental behaviors. The research comprised three activities that examined the experiences of three groups of people who claim zoo visiting as an important part of their life‐story: conservation biologists who describe zoo experiences as having significant formative role in their childhood development of environmental values; parents who prioritize zoo visits as an important cultural experiences for their children; and active zoo volunteers. This
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Wildlife Conservation SocietyJohn Fraser
Goodman Research Group, Inc., (GRG), Cambridge, MA, conducted the formative evaluation of The Music Instinct project. The NSF-funded project aims to bring to PBS viewers the strong evidence of the connections between music and science, as well as to facilitate a deeper understanding of both fields. The Music Instinct project, presented by WNET/Thirteen, in collaboration with Mannes Productions, includes a two-hour television program, a website, and ancillary educational materials. The purpose of the formative evaluation is to obtain timely information to support and guide the producers as they
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Rucha LondheMiriam KochmanNivedita RanadeIrene F GoodmanWNET/ThirteenMannes Productions Inc.
This project will produce a multi-part radio project including eight half-hour documentaries, 40-50 short radio features, an audio clearinghouse and a website on scientific research in the Polar Regions. The content of the programs support the goals of IPY. The project will be produced with four international radio partners: the science units of The Australian Broadcasting Co., the BBC World Service, Radio Deustche-Welle and Radio New Zealand. These international collaborators will look at issues such as the influence of conditions in Polar Regions on global climatic change, how animals adapt to rapid environmental change, survival in extreme environments and processes of change among native people in the Polar regions. The programs will reach a large audience in the United States as well as internationally through the collaborating partners. The clearinghouse/website will be designed to provide organized learning resources and an audio archive of the project's radio programs and archival interviews and sounds for use by both the general public and professional audiences. There will be both formative and summative evaluation of the programs and website.
The X-Tech program will bring together the Exploratorium and staff at five Beacon Centers to create an innovative technology program using STEM and IT activities previously tested at the Exploratorium. At each X-Tech Club, two Beacon Center staff and two Exploratorium Youth Facilitators will work with 20 middle school students each year for a total of 300 participants. Youth Facilitators are alumni of the Exploratorium's successful Explainer program and will receive 120 hours of training in preparation for peer mentoring. Each site will use the X-Tech hands-on curriculum that will focus on small technological devices to explore natural phenomenon, in addition to digital imaging, visual perception and the physiology of eyes. Parental involvement will be fostered through opportunities to participate in lectures, field trips and open houses, while staff at Beacon Centers will participate in 20 hours of professional development each year.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Vivian AltmannDarlene LibreroVirginia WittMichael Funk
In this essay, we review research from the social sciences on how the public makes sense of and participates in societal decisions about science and technology. We specifically highlight the role of the media and public communication in this process, challenging the still dominant assumption that science literacy is both the problem and the solution to societal conflicts. After reviewing the cases of evolution, climate change, food biotechnology, and nanotechnology, we offer a set of detailed recommendations for improved public engagement efforts on the part of scientists and their
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Matthew NisbetDietram Scheufele
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The term ""community of practice"" is of relatively recent coinage, even though the phenomenon it refers to is age-old. The concept has turned out to provide a useful perspective on knowing and learning. A growing number of people and organizations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance. This brief and general introduction examines what communities of practice are and why researchers and practitioners in so many different contexts find them useful as an approach to knowing and learning.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Etienne Wenger
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The idea that learning involves a deepening process of participation in a community of practice has gained significant ground in recent years. Communities of practice have also become an important focus within organizational development and have considerable value when thinking about working with groups. In this article we outline the theory and practice of such communities, and examine some of issues and questions for informal educators and those concerned with lifelong learning.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mark Smith
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
In the experience of health professionals, it appears that interacting with peers in the workplace fosters learning and information sharing. Informal groups and networks present good opportunities for information exchange. Communities of practice (CoPs), which have been described by Wenger and others as a type of informal learning organization, have received increasing attention in the health care sector; however, the lack of uniform operating definitions of CoPs has resulted in considerable variation in the structure and function of these groups, making it difficult to evaluate their
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Linda LiJeremy GrimshawCamilla NielsenMaria JuddPeter CoyteIan Graham
In order to better understand how visitors to science and natural history museums connect to ideas around Indigenous knowledge and Western science, the Cosmic Serpent evaluation team (Institute for Learning Innovation and Native Pathways) conducted front-end audience research focused on audience perceptions and attitudes towards Indigenous ways of knowing and Western science in informal science settings.A total of 121 exit interviews were conducted with visitors to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, NM, and to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jill SteinShelly ValdezTammy MessickUniversity of California-BerkeleyIndigenous Education Institute
The exhibit Coffee The World in Your Cup was designed by and installed at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture running from January 24, 2009 through September 7. The exhibit presents the story of one of the world's most widely traded commodities and how it has affected cultures, economies, and environments across the globe. Coffee explores the environmental and social impacts of the coffee industry and recommends ways for consumers to make socially and environmentally responsible coffee purchases at the grocery store or in a coffee shop. The exhibit space is approximately 2,000
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Nick VisscherUniversity of WashingtonSarah MartinezErin Wilcox
The summative evaluation of Yuungnaqpiallerput used two evaluation strategies--tracking and timing (T&T) and an open-ended questionnaire (CQ)--to discover how visitors used the exhibition and what they could immediately recall about it. The combined data from these methods produced a well-rounded set of evidence for the degree of success achieved by the exhibition. Yuungnaqpiallerput was designed to be engaging to both an Alaska Native American audience and non-natives. Of the 61 people in the CQ sample, 69% said that they were first-time visitors to the Anchorage Museum, and 75% had no
Partnering with National Musical Arts, the Science Museum of Minnesota seeks to develop BioMusic, a 4,000 sq. ft. traveling exhibition that explores the origins of music in nature and the connections between music and sound of living things. This project is based on planning grant ESI-0211611 (The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music) awarded to NMA. The project is based on the emerging interdisciplinary research field of biomusic, which includes musicology plus aspects of neuroscience, biology, zoology, environmental science, physics, psychology, math and anthropology. The exhibit sections -- "Humanimal" Music; Natural Symphonies; Ancient Roots; Music, Body and Mind; and World of Music -- use both music and natural sound to explore biodiversity, cultural diversity, the physics of sound and the brain. BROADER IMPACT: The exhibition is expected to travel for at least six years, reaching some two million people in 18 communities. It is to be accompanied by a six-part radio series (Sweet Bird Classics) for young children. Because of the connection to music and many other areas of public interest, this exhibition has the potential to attract and engage new audiences to science museums and stimulate their interest in STEM.