This is a handout from the session "Evaluation in Practice: Stories from the front-line" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout provides brief overviews from each of the three presenting institutions and compiles a list of evaluation resources mentioned in the session.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Sarah CohnWhitney OwensRachel CarpenterJen Lokey
This is a handout from the session "The CEO Debate 2: Museum leaders consider current issues" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout presents a list of current questions and trends that were posed to museum CEOs to discuss during the session.
This is a handout from the session "Museums 3.0: Implementing programs/exhibits which are a community resource" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. This handout includes slides from each of the presenters.
This is a handout from the session "Knowing your Community: To Be More Interesting, Be More Interested" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. It provides a set of three questions for museum professionals to ask members of their community.
This is a handout from the session "Engaging Underrepresented Populations in your STEM Programming: A place-based approach" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. It includes slides from the presentation, which describe how a neighborhood-based approach can be used to reach target audiences.
This is a handout from the session "What If There Wasn't a Building? Pecha Kucha" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout links to a recording of the session.
To better help museum visitors make sense of large data sets, also called “big data”, this study focuses on what museum visitors felt individual layers of a visual (alone and in combination with other layers) were communicating to them as the visual was constructed or deconstructed layer by layer. A second, smaller study, collected data to better understand how adult visitors would construct large data visualizations. This study was concerned with how people make sense of “big data” in their daily lives and how they engage with reference systems. The primary study used four different “big data
To better understand how audiences in public spaces, in this case those in a museum setting, relate to and make sense of the phrases “Big Data” and “Data Visualizations”, this study investigated visitors understanding of these terms. This formative study used intercepts; approaching adult visitors and inviting them to participate in a very brief interview. If the person agreed, they were asked additional questions. The first question asked about awareness of the phrase, “Big Data” or for a very small comparison group, “Data Visualization.” Visitors were then asked “How would you explain “Big
It is all very well to note the hyperbole about patents and ‘intellectual property’ in the recent battles between technology companies such as Apple, Samsung and HTC. But how can museums productively use collection items marked with a patent beyond workaday tasks of identification and cataloguing? We argue that information on patents can enhance visitors’ critical engagement with museum displays; complex ownership claims and counter-claims in patent disputes can underpin lively narratives based around museum objects. Asking why some objects and not others were patented, and how historical
This tool was created by Museum of Science, Boston Design Challenges educators and the Research and Evaluation team, intended to record observations of children’s engagement in the engineering design process during participation in design-based activities in a science museum setting. It consists of a checklist of behaviors corresponding with steps of the engineering design process, previously developed for the program based on state and national standards, educator input, and past evaluator observations. The behavioral checklist matches to parts of the engineering design process, including
At the Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, visitors to the Create.Connect exhibition can use “make and test” activities developed in collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota. As one part of the evaluation of this exhibition, the team identified five indicators that suggest learning and that the activities should promote. The team did not expect the presence of these behaviors to guarantee that learning was occurring, but the activities were designed to promote learning through these behaviors and their absence would signal problems. These indicators are an example of one way a
This project supports the development of technological fluency and understanding of STEM concepts through the implementation of design collaboratives that use eCrafting Collabs as the medium within which to work with middle and high school students, parents and the community. The researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the Franklin Institute combine expertise in learning sciences, digital media design, computer science and informal science education to examine how youth at ages 10-16 and families in schools, clubs, museums and community groups learn together how to create e-textile artifacts that incorporate embedded computers, sensors and actuators. The project investigates the feasibility of implementing these collaboratives using eCrafting via three models of participation, individual, structured group and cross-generational community groups. They are designing a portal through which the collaborative can engage in critique and sharing of their designs as part of their efforts to build a model process by which scientific and engineered product design and analysis can be made available to multiple audiences. The project engages participants through middle and high school elective classes and through the workshops conducted by a number of different organizations including the Franklin Institute, Techgirlz, the Hacktory and schools in Philadelphia. Participants can engage in the eCrafting Collabs through individual, collective and community design challenges that are established by the project. Participants learn about e-textile design and about circuitry and programming using either ModKit or the text-based Arduino. The designs are shared through the eCrafting Collab portal and participants are required to provide feedback and critique. Researchers are collecting data on learner identity in relation to STEM and computing, individual and collective participation in design and student understanding of circuitry and programming. The project is an example of a scalable intervention to engage students, families and communities in developing technological flexibility. This research and development project provides a resource that engages students in middle and high schools in technology rich collaborative environments that are alternatives to other sorts of science fairs and robotic competitions. The resources developed during the project will inform how such an informal/formal blend of student engagement might be scaled to expand the experiences of populations of underserved groups, including girls. The study is conducting an examination of the new types of learning activities that are multiplying across the country with a special focus on cross-generational learning.