Twenty-four Learning Labs in libraries and museums across the country are engaging America’s youth in learning settings where they gain skills and following their passions. A new publication, Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums: Transformative Spaces for Teens, describes these innovative teen spaces. The report details the research behind the labs, the practices that support meaningful learning, and the impacts of a movement that grew with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and its private partner, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
This is a handout from the session "Sustaining Current Science Experiences in Science Centers" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. It contains an overview of the session, which included discussion of embedded partnerships, episodic real science activities, and sustainability strategies.
This is a handout from the session "Making Space for Innovation: Sampling of Making and Tinkering" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The session provided an overview of different makerspaces and tinkering programs, including the goals, opportunities, and challenges of the making movement.
This is a handout from the session "NASA in the Community: Diverse solutions to engaging families/educators" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. It includes presentation slides and related reference materials about NASA-funded informal education projects.
This is a handout from the session "Unique Approaches to Community Engagement – Challenges, Successes, Lessons Learned" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout includes presentation slides and the central questions discussed by each session contributor.
This is a handout from the session "Introducing your preschool audiences to science and astronomy" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The session discussed how the My Sky Tonight project supports informal science educators in engaging young children in the practices of science through astronomy.
This is a handout from the session "High Expectations, High Support: Effective professional development strategies for teens" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. It includes slides from the presentation which discuss how museums and informal institutions can provide professional development for teenagers.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lucy GreenDon WittrockKathy FullerLiz WitlingerJosh KemperJoy Delyria
This is a handout from the session "Creating Successful Partnerships Between Informal and Formal Science Education" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The session discussed several models of collaboration between the formal and informal sectors.
This is a handout from the session "Increasing Audience Diversity" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The session was broken down into groups by audience age. The handout provides notes for engaging university students and middle and high school aged children.
This report summarizes the evaluation results from the NSF funded Eight-Legged Encounters family event that uses arachnids as a hook to draw public interests towards science. The event involves informative and hands-on activities that bridge the gap between academia and the public, extending knowledge about arachnids to children and their parents. The Bureau of Sociological Research (BOSR) at UNL was contracted to evaluate Eight-Legged Encounters. The data collection for this report involves five events and three audiences: adults, children, and the volunteers of the event. Two events were
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University of Nebraska LincolnEileen Hebets
To better help museum visitors make sense of large data sets, also called “Big Data”, this study focused on the types of visual representations visitors recognize, and how they make meaning (or not) of various visuals. Individual adults and youths were shown five different data visualizations (one from each of five categories), one at a time, and asked if the visualization looked familiar and how it was read. This study found that Context and previous experience matters. Participants of all ages are familiar with a wide variety of visual displays of data. If a participant encounters a visual
This is a handout from the session "Dream, Design, Fab! Engaging Youth With Digital Fabrication" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The session described the Fab Lab program at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.