A multifaceted evaluation study was conducted of the 2,000-square-foot exhibit "Darkened Waters: Profile of an Oil Spill" between September 14 and October 12, 1991, at the Oakland Museum, Natural Sciences Department. "Darkened Waters" is the second generation of an exhibit originally conceived and built by the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska, to provide information and a forum for the environmental impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The exhibit will travel to the Smithsonian Institution in December 1991, and will be available to other institutions through the Association of Science
The University of Central Florida (UCF) received funding from the National Science Foundation through the Informal Science Education program (# 0638977) to create a series of exhibits entitled Water's Journey through the Everglades (Water's Journey). The project deliverables included ten kiosks integrated into an expansion of the Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) in Fort Lauderdale, FL, with the new exhibition areas opening in November 2011. The kiosks model aspects of Florida's ecosystems and natural history, highlighting the natural balance of the Everglades and the interplay between
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan FoutzKara HershorinUniversity of Central FloridaMuseum of Discovery and Science
Life Changes: Communicating pre-evolutionary concepts to young children in informal settings was an education and research effort designed to address the lack of basic understanding of the biology of evolution and the challenges of increasing understanding of this complex content in informal learning environments. Exhibit designers from the New York Hall of Science, Miami Science Museum, and North Museum of Natural History & Science worked closely with researchers from the University of Michigan to devise an educational intervention that could meet this critical public science need. Exhibit
The summative evaluation of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Geometry Playground traveling exhibition was a two-year naturalistic study to examine (a) the ways and extent to which the exhibition promoted the practice of spatial reasoning skills, and appreciation for geometry, and (b) its influence on museum professionals' thinking across three venues: the Exploratorium (San Francisco, CA), the Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN), and the Don Harrington Discovery Center (Amarillo, TX). The study took place from December 2009 through November 2011 and included five site visits
In preparation for the development of the NSF-funded exhibition Places of Invention, the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a front-end evaluation. The study explored interest in, misconceptions of, and potential barriers to the content in the Places of Invention exhibition, which tells stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness. RK&A conducted 50 in-depth interviews with
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Smithsonian InstitutionLemelson Center for the Study of Invention and InnovationNational Museum of American History
The Listen exhibition at The Exploratorium, which opened in October 2006, deals with the production and physical characteristics of sound, the reception of sound in the ear and its perception in the brain, and the human capacity to interpret and act on the information transmitted by sounds. Summative evaluation of Listen consists of two parts: tracking and timing and exit interviews. Instruments for the studies were developed by Minda Borun. Data were collected by Exploratorium staff members Mary Kidwell, Emily Pinkowitz, Heather Posner, and Deborah Siegel, and were tabulated by Mary Kidwell
The Review of NISE Network Evaluation Findings: Years 1-5 seeks to investigate the work of the NISE Network since its inception in 2005 and provide an overarching summary of NISE Net Public Impacts evaluation efforts to the NISE Network and the broader ISE field. This Review is divided into six chapters, representing the following themes: Connecting ISE Professionals with Nano Informal Science Education; Connecting University-Affiliated Individuals with Nano Informal Science Education;Engaging the Public in Learning about Nano through NISE Network Educational Products;Engaging the Public with
Visitors to the Museum of Life and Science (MLS) in Durham can now explore acres of new exhibition space, called BioQuest Woods. To get to BioQuest Woods, visitors walk outside and away from the Museum building a quarter of a mile, passing Loblolly Park, the Farmyard, the trail to the Butterfly House, and Grayson's Cafe. Upon approaching BioQuest Woods, they encounter a fork in the trail where they can choose to enter one of two exhibition areas: Catch the Wind or Explore the Wild. On the backside of either exhibition area, people can choose to take a full loop (which is a total of a half-mile
Nanoscience is an emerging scientific field, and therefore an increasing amount of funding is flowing into nanoscience and nanotechnology research, including money from the federal government. Several studies of public understanding and public attitudes toward nanoscience have shown that most of the public is generally uninterested in and unmotivated to learn about nanoscale science and technology3. Because this emerging interdisciplinary field of science offers so much promise, and because it will have an increasing presence in everyday life, the NSF is committed to increasing public
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mark St. JohnJenifer V. HelmsNanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) NetworkPam CastoriJudy HirabayashiLaurie LopezMichelle Phillips
During 2005-2008, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network researched, designed, implemented, and evaluated public deliverables covering various aspects of nanoscience, nanotechnology, and nanoengineering. Working with four NISE Net museums, Multimedia Research used a web-based post-survey design to assess nanotechnology awareness in a sample of museum visitors exposed to nano-topic programs, exhibits, forums and activities (treatment group) compared with a sample of museum members who were not exposed to the deliverables (control group). Exposure to nano-topic deliverables appears to
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of Playing with Time, a traveling exhibition funded by the National Science Foundation. Data collection took place at SMM, the exhibition's first venue, in the spring and summer of 2002. The evaluation documents the scope of the exhibition's impact and effectiveness through timing and tracking observations and exit interviews.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Minnesota
resourceevaluationMuseum and Science Center Programs
The NISE Net Public Impacts Summative Evaluation focuses on measuring the public outcomes and impacts of NISE Net activities. The design of the evaluation studies is driven by a program theory model that maps the pathways NISE Net has developed for delivering nanoscale science, engineering and technology (NSET) programs and exhibits to the public, as identified by the summative evaluation team. Built into the NISE Net program theory model is an assumption that the Network will reach a large number of people by distributing the Network's public outreach efforts across a large number of