The Science Center of Iowa will update its 10-year-old gallery, "What on Earth," to tell the story of how Iowa's habitats and animals are connected to each other and to humans. New exhibition components will include touch specimens, interactive elements, and an integrated storyline that connects the living specimens to the broader context of a delicate and changing ecosystem. The project will support the final phase of exhibition update, including the further development of specific content and experiences through an evaluative process, and the fabrication and installation of exhibitions, labels, and graphics. The museum will partner with the Science Museum of Minnesota to conduct a summative evaluation of the new content and experiences geared to a core audience of students in grades 3-5 and their caregivers.
This report shares the results of a year-long study of the impact of IMLS grants (1998-2003) though programs that served youth aged 9-19. Nearly 400 museum and library programs were surveyed about their goals, strategies, content, audience, and structure, as well as about their impact, effectiveness, and outcomes.
Better understanding guests’ sense of belonging can explain why some feel quite at home in museums while others would never consider visiting. To do so, we start by developing a model of belonging uniquely suited for museums and cultural institutions. Based on literature and expert interviews, it includes three elements of belonging: Inclusion, Place Belongingness and Context of the visit. This study presents an easy-to-use survey instrument designed to measure all aspects of the model. It adapts two previously published scales while introducing the Cultural Context Belonging Scale, newly
The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago will conduct a research study that measures a sense of belonging for museum guests, helping museums identify and address social exclusion issues. Project activities include developing and testing a survey instrument with museum visitors along with a comparison group of non-museum goers, culminating in the production of the final instrument, a user's guide, and a template to analyze findings. The project will involve nine museums of various types, sizes, audience demographics, and geographic locations collaborating to collect and analyze data and then share the project results with the broader museum community. Project activities will result in an increase in museum staff's awareness of their audience's sense of inclusion, leading to museums that are more responsive and relevant to their communities.
IMPACT NC is a collaboration between the North Carolina science centers and museums and NC State University (NCSU) to build and foster a Community of Practice (CoP) for collective evaluation among the 54 partner organizations across the state of North Carolina. Funded by IMLS Museum Leadership Grant (MG-70-19-0019-19).
The goals of IMPACT NC are:
Identification of a set of shared goals for informal science education across the state.
Development of metrics to assess these goals.
Enhanced capacity of the Community of Practice of science museums to conduct evaluation centered on these collective evaluation goals and metrics.
Improved cohesion among science museums and other partners in NC (e.g. university collaborators, non-profit organizations) as they collectively work toward shared goals.
Development of a system for reporting program outcomes using shared metrics that is integrated into annual reporting or grant proposal processes across NC, thereby informing decision making.
Drawing on results from a recent national study, we draw attention to the importance of the experiential learning cycle for enhancing meaningful outcomes of interpretive and educational experiences. The experiential learning cycle involves participating in a concrete experience, reflecting on that experience, drawing out lessons learned and principles from that reflection, and putting that knowledge to work in a new situation. Recent studies reveal that attention to completing all four stages of the experiential learning cycle can enhance positive outcomes for participants in educational and
The Science Museum of Minnesota will create a 450-square-foot version of its award-winning "RACE: Are We So Different?" exhibition for distribution to rural areas and communities in Minnesota, and adjacent regions in Iowa, eastern North and South Dakota, and northern Wisconsin. The museum will produce four replicas of the exhibition for museums and partner organizations, and collaborate with community groups to develop supporting programming specific to identified community needs. Programs will include facilitated reflective dialogues for groups of adults and students; a leadership institute with representatives from each host community; an educator guide for secondary school teachers; and a variety of workshops and arts presentations to extend conversations about race and racism. Like the original RACE exhibition, these condensed exhibitions will encourage visitors to explore the science, history, and everyday effects of race and racism through a combination of artifacts, historic and contemporary photography, multimedia components, and interactive activities.
The Expanding the Reach: Creating Capacity for Understanding RACE project developed site-specific programming to complement the installation of three small footprint exhibitions of RACE: Are We So Different? in three communities in Minnesota. The goal of the project was to prompt community conversations around topics of race, racism, equity, and the nation’s history, as well as local histories concerning race. Our evaluation questions were: 1) What impact did having the RACE exhibit and associated program have on prompting conversation about race and racism, (a) within institutions and (b)
From 2018 to 2020, the Emerging Research on Identity, Representation & Inclusion in Museums project team set out to document graduate-level research on identity in the museum field, and support professionals’ ongoing research and publishing on these topics. Researchers at Knology synthesized over 90 graduate student theses about identity and museums from 2000 to 2018. In parallel, we interviewed a sample of the authors whose work appeared in the literature review, to understand how identity research has played a role in their careers. To support new and ongoing identity research, we hosted a
Diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) have become central concerns for museums. Across the field, leaders are asking—with increasing urgency—how museums can diversify their visitors, staff, and boards; create welcoming and inclusive environments and workplaces; and ensure that museum offerings reflect a broad range of interests, experiences, and needs.
Museums have approached DEAI efforts in different ways and at different levels, from developing special exhibits and events for specific audiences to offering staff diversity training to board development. Despite more than
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) and Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment (BASE) contracted RK&A to conduct an evaluation of their partnership’s progress and outcomes over three years. The goal of the summative evaluation is to explore students, families, and teachers’ perceptions of and relationship to BBG and the BBG-BASE partnership. The evaluation also explored attitudes and understandings of how to engage in nature exploration, scientific inquiry, and environmental stewardship in a meaningful way.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A developed questionnaires to be
This is an overview of the programs hosted by the Chicago Children's Musuem (CCM) and the Evanston Public Library (EPL). There were a total of eight programs at the CCM:
"Making Stringed Instruments" with Dustin, head of Tinkering School Chicago
"Making Swing Sets" with Dan, a mechanical engineer
"Making Fan-Powered Cars" with Jason, a mechanical engineer and co-founder of Project SYNCERE
"Making Wings" with Anna, a costume engineer
"Wired Up" a project involving circuits with Jason, a mechanical engineer and co-founder of Project SYNCERE
"Robots and Dirt" a project using