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Summative

Summative Evaluation of Black Holes Exhibit Gallery

August 1, 2010 | Media and Technology, Exhibitions

Goodman Research Group completed the summative evaluation report of the Black Holes Experiment Gallery (BHEG), a traveling exhibit by the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which aimed at engaging museum visitors in the topic of black holes. One of the innovations of the project included the inclusion of significant input from youth collaborators in the exhibit's design and development phase in order to achieve improved audience impact and the other innovation was a Black Holes Explorer's Card which visitors used to collect digital artifacts at the museum and could access the information they had collected at home on the BHEG website. The museum visitors showed an increase in knowledge and interest in black holes and astronomy based on their experience with the exhibit. Moreover, GRG found that use of the card enhanced these visitors' outcomes. The use of the card made a difference in visitors' time spent, their interest, and their learning at the exhibit.This innovative networked technology helped optimize the exhibit experience for visitors and at the same time functioned as a tool for embedded assessment. The appendix of this report includes interview protocols and surveys.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Rucha Londhe
    Evaluator
    Goodman Research Group
  • Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
    Contributor
  • REVISE logo
    Evaluator
    Goodman Research Group, Inc.
  • Laura Houseman
    Evaluator
    Goodman Research Group, Inc.
  • 2013 08 09 Irene Goodman
    Evaluator
    Goodman Research Group, Inc.
  • Citation

    Funders

    NSF
    Funding Program: AISL
    Award Number: 0638963
    Funding Amount: 1688701
    Resource Type: Research and Evaluation Instruments | Survey | Interview Protocol | Evaluation Reports
    Discipline: Education and learning science | Space science
    Audience: Middle School Children (11-13) | Youth/Teen (up to 17) | Adults | Families | General Public | Museum/ISE Professionals | Evaluators
    Environment Type: Media and Technology | Websites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media | Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits

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