Even in the best-resourced science communication institutions, poor quality evaluation methods are routinely employed. This leads to questionable data, specious conclusions and stunted growth in the quality and effectiveness of science communication practice. Good impact evaluation requires upstream planning, clear objectives from practitioners, relevant research skills and a commitment to improving practice based on evaluation evidence.
Access to high quality evaluation results is essential for science communicators to identify negative patterns of audience response and improve outcomes. However, there are many good reasons why robust evaluation linked is not routinely conducted and linked to science communication practice. This essay begins by identifying some of the common challenges that explain this gap between evaluation evidence and practice. Automating evaluation processes through new technologies is then explicated as one solution to these challenges, capable of yielding accurate real-time results that can directly
King et al. [2015] argue that ‘emphasis on impact is obfuscating the valuable role of evaluation’ in informal science learning and public engagement (p. 1). The article touches on a number of important issues pertaining to the role of evaluation, informal learning, science communication and public engagement practice. In this critical response essay, I highlight the article’s tendency to construct a straw man version of ‘impact evaluation’ that is impossible to achieve, while exaggerating the value of simple forms of feedback-based evaluation exemplified in the article. I also identify a
AAAS describes public engagement with science as intentional, meaningful interactions that provide opportunities for mutual learning between scientists and members of the public. Through the Alan I. Leshner Leadership Institute for Public Engagement with Science, AAAS empowers scientists and engineers to practice high-impact public engagement by fostering leaders who advocate for critical dialogue between scientists and the public and lead change to enable their communities, institutions, and others to support public engagement. This bibliography, with additional work on understanding
Recent years have brought a shift in the rhetoric of science communication from initial deficit models to practices involving dialogue and, finally, engagement. But to what extent has this rhetorical shift changed practice in the U.K.? Jensen and Holliman analysed practitioners’ views of their science communication practices. Findings indicate that science communication practice is still primarily deficit-based, with some incidence of dialogue-oriented thinking.
How do people make sense of conflicting beliefs? Although Gottlieb & Wineburg’s paper is about highly educated professionals reading history, informal science educators will recognize similar issues when working with people who hold beliefs incompatible with scientific ways of understanding the world. “Epistemic switching” was a way of considering criteria for truth, reliability, and validity according to one belief system or another. Rather than simply believing or excluding ideas as people who held to only one value system, the people with multiple, competing affiliations actually more
How can technology be used to support inquiry in the classroom? In this study, Rehmat and Bailey probe the effects of a science methods course for preservice elementary teachers that explicitly includes technology integration. The preservice teachers in this course broadened their definition of classroom technology, increased their technology use, and gained a more positive outlook on technology integration.
Flying Higher will develop a permanent hands-on exhibit that conveys the fundamentals of flight, technology, materials science, and NASA’s role in aeronautics for learners ages 3-12 years and their parents/caregivers and teachers. The exhibit, public programs, school and teacher programs, and teacher professional development will develop a pipeline of skilled workers to support community workforce needs and communicate NASA’s contributions to the nation and world. An innovative partnership with Claflin University (an historically black college) and Columbia College (a women’s liberal arts college) will provide undergraduate coursework in informal science education to support pre-service learning opportunities and paid employment for students seeking careers in education and/or STEM fields. The projects goals are:
1) To educate multi-generational family audiences about the principles and the future of aeronautics; provide hands-on, accessible, and immersive opportunities to explore state-of-the-art NASA technology; and demonstrate the cultural impact of flight in our global community.
2) To provide educational standards-based programming to teachers and students in grades K–8 on NASA-driven research topics, giving the students opportunities to explore these topics and gain exposure to science careers at NASA; and to offer teachers support in presenting STEM topics.
3) To create and implement a professional development program to engage pre-service teachers in presenting museum-based programs focused on aeronautics and engineering. This program will provide undergraduate degree credits, service learning, and paid employment to students that supports STEM instruction in the classroom, explores the benefits of informal science education, and encourages post-graduate opportunities in STEM fields.
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Julia Kennard
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Understanding the Sun Through NASA Missions. The Maryland Science Center (MSC) initiative is targeted to rural educators and library patrons in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. The Maryland Science Center is lead partner collaborating with Prince George’s County, Maryland Public Schools and its Howard B. Owens Science Center, and with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop Educator Workshops and library exhibits for the Maryland counties of Cecil, Kent and Washington and NASA Wallops Visitor Center (Virginia) and NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Center (West Virginia). The project will make participants aware and better informed of NASA Heliophysics science and NASA missions studying the Sun. Participants in the programs will come to a better understanding of the Sun, space weather, and the Sun’s far-reaching influence on our planet and the rest of the Solar System. Educators will be better prepared to teach students using NASA-developed hands-on materials demonstrated and provided in the workshops, as well as Sun Spotters and Solar Scopes to examine solar surface features, helping to engage them and their students in better understanding our closest star. Rural libraries patrons will encounter NASA mission science, and MSC visitors will acquire better comprehension of the Sun. All participants will come away with a renewed appreciation of our Sun and how it works, its variability, its ongoing effects on our planet, the nature of the scientific study of the Sun, and how and why NASA is exploring the Sun with its current missions.
From Our Town to Outer Space will inform, engage, and inspire new public audiences (library staff and patrons) by sharing NASA’s missions, challenges, and achievements. FOTOS is led by the Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL). NASA mission staff will be invited to participate as active members. NCIL is partnering with Evaluation & Research Associates (ERA) to provide formative and summative evaluation services. FOTOS is a standards-based, informal education program that will reach a broad audience of librarians, library patrons, and other members of the public with a special focus on underserved and underrepresented audiences. The 3-year pilot program includes: 1) a hands-on, museum- quality library exhibit (called Discover NASA: the science and engineering of tomorrow) and tour (to 7 libraries across the country), 2) the development and broad dissemination of active learning activities for different age groups, and 3) library staff training (online and in-person) that introduces them to the STEM content of the exhibit and guides them in developing complementary programming. The project will also develop resources for the existing STAR Library Education Network (STAR Net) community of practice (CoP) whose members include librarians and STEM professionals.
This commentary forms the conclusion of a special Virtual Issue of Science Education focusing on the intersection of informal STEM education and the learning sciences.