This worksheet helps you think through ways you might use the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project’s resources to plan your own evaluation or learn about evaluation practices in the informal learning field.
This zip file includes the 520 reports that were downloaded from informalscience.org and coded as part of the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project. Each of the reports is referred to by a project ID number that is used across all of the BISE resources.
This document provides examples of questions you can answer in NVivo by running matrix queries, running coding queries, and creating sets. It was created to help users navigate the NVivo Database as part of the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project.
BISE’s NVivo database includes all of the coding applied by the BISE team based on the BISE Coding Framework. This includes codes that were applied to specific sections of a report (referred to as “nodes” in Nvivo) and codes that were applied to an entire report (referred to as “attributes” in Nvivo). For Mac or NVivo 9 versions, visit the VSA website at http://www.visitorstudies.org/bise.
This paper presents a conceptual framework for analyzing how researchers and district leaders perceive and navigate differences they encounter in the context of research-practice partnerships. Our framework contrasts with images of partnership work as facilitating the translation of research into practice. Instead, we argue that partnership activity is best viewed as a form of joint work requiring mutual engagement across multiple boundaries. Drawing on a cultural-historical account of learning across boundaries (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011) and evidence from a study of two longterm partnerships
Collaboration is a prerequisite for the sustainability of interagency programs, particularly those programs initially created with the support of time-limited grant-funding sources. From the perspective of evaluators, however, assessing collaboration among grant partners is often difficult. It is also challenging to present collaboration data to stakeholders in a way that is meaningful. In this article, the authors introduce the Levels of Collaboration Scale, which was developed from existing models and instruments. The authors extend prior work on measuring collaboration by exploring the
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Bruce FreyJill LohmeierStephen LeeNona Tollefson
To address the Informal Science Learning for Indigenous communities raises a number of issues. What is “informal” and how does this notion influence the everyday lived lives of Indigenous peoples? Can we separate the informal from the formal, and is the nexus of the two a productive place from which to explore, teach, and pursue science in Indigenous communities? This commissioned paper attempts to begin addressing these questions.
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Bryan Mckinely Jones BrayboyAngelina Castagno
Educational assessment systems are frequently challenged by divergent stakeholder needs. A major insight from experts who work on school assessment systems is the need to clearly articulate and evaluate assessment choices in relation to these distinct goals. The out-of-school STEM ecosystem faces similar challenges. This background paper presents ideas for new assessment methodologies that include biographical and narrative approaches, measures of sustained learning, and social network representations to complement more traditional approaches that capture average effects of a particular
Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), with additional support from the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), GSCA hosted the Setting the Agenda for Giant Screen Research Workshop on October 18, 2013, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The one-day Workshop convened a group of 32 giant screen (GS) stakeholders, immersive practitioners, academic researchers and GS-industry affiliated experts to consider the key issues for a GS research roadmap. The Workshop goals, as outlined in the conference proposal submitted to the
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Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA)Mary Nucci
The long-term goal is to broaden our model program that currently targets African-American populations in the national capital area. The aim of the program is to: a) educate junior and senior high students and elementary school teachers directly; and b) provide opportunities for exploration of health-related sciences for the public at large (via an interactive website) so that topics in the biomedical sciences become "friendly and familiar" rather than the existing stereotype that science is erudite, obtuse, and incomprehensible. Specific objectives: (A) Design hands-on experiences in science laboratories and opportunities to interact with scientists in the setting of a sophisticated research institute; especially target under-represented minorities, students from inner city schools and other local schools where science opportunities may be limited. This will include junior and high school students, elementary school teachers, as well as interactions with Children's Museum and other similar organizations. (B) Set up interactive web-based informatics to include: i) a system where high school students could refine the question they are posing for science projects by discussing it with a professional scientist; ii) a general "ask-the-expert" site for science and health issues; iii) a reference site containing the detailed experimental protocols for student experiments; and iv) an interactive resource to aid teachers throughout the U.S. to establish contacts with scientists. The goal of this project is to extend the reach of current health science programs that are targeted to females, African-American junior and senior high school students, and elementary school teachers, located in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The project includes laboratory apprenticeships, student mentoring, and an interactive website to help students and teachers establish contact with scientists nationwide.
As collective impact initiatives blossom around the country, Northern Kentucky provides a case study in handling a dilemma that can spring from that growth: When multiple initiatives develop overlapping missions, members, and audiences, how can you reduce competition and increase impact? Today, Northern Kentucky's education initiatives are aligned through a backbone organization that aims to improve all youth supports, from birth to career.