Summative Evaluation: Mammoth Discovery!

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose (CDM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of the Mammoth Discovery! exhibition, one part of a comprehensive project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Mammoth Discovery! features the story of Lupe, fossilized mammoth bones found in San Jose and includes a full-size replica of Lupe and Lupe's actual skull, femur, and pelvis fossils. Through engagement with the exhibition, CDM intends for children and their caregivers to engage in scientific thinking, become aware that they are engaging in a process similar to scientists, and understand that knowledge about mammoths is based on evidence as well as for caregivers to support children's learning through collaborative exploration. RK&A used timing and tracking observations and in-depth interviews to capture visitors' experiences in Mammoth Discovery! and examine the exhibition's impact. Timing and tracking observations provide a quantitative and objective account of how children (4-10 years) visited the exhibition, including time spent, usage of exhibit components, and behaviors. In-depth, open-ended interviews provide a subjective of account of multi-generational visitors' experiences in the exhibition. Interviews were conducted with CDM visitors in multigenerational groups (one adult and one child 4-10 years old) who had visited the Mammoth Discovery! exhibition (treatment group) and multigenerational groups who had not seen the exhibition (control group). Interview data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. For the quantitative analysis, a scoring rubric was used to compare results between treatment and control groups to determine the impact of the exhibition. Children's time spent and exhibition usage is typical of children's museum exhibitions. Observed children engaged in many science process skills, including observing, testing/ experimenting, using different tools, and comparing, and adult-child interaction was high overall. Most interviewees responded positively about the exhibition and their experience. Further, about two-thirds of interviewees learned something about mammoths and mammoth biology, two-thirds understood that mammoths used to live in the San Jose area or that mammoth bones were discovered there, and two-thirds took away ideas about scientific thinking and the scientific process. Achievement of the intended impacts was high with Impact 1, "Children and their caregivers will engage in scientific thinking," and Impact 4, "Caregivers will support children's learning through collaborative exploration." Achievement of intended impacts was moderate with Impact 2, "Children and their caregivers will become aware that they can and are engaging in a process similar to that in which scientists engage," and Impact 3, "Children and their caregivers will learn about mammoths and their habitats and will understand that knowledge about mammoths is based on evidence."" Achievement on Impact 1, "Children and their caregivers will engage in scientific thinking," and Impact 4, "Caregivers will support children's learning through collaborative exploration," seem largely owing to the exhibition design. Exhibits were intentionally designed to engage children in scientific process skills and facilitate adult-child collaboration, such as by ensuring that all benches are long enough for two. However, the high level of adult-child collaboration, as compared to that seen in other children's museum exhibitions, suggests that caregivers may be more comfortable collaborating with their children in content-rich exhibitions like Mammoth Discovery!. Achievement on Impact 2, "Children and their caregivers will become aware that they can and are engaging in a process similar to that in which scientists engage," and Impact 3, "Children and their caregivers will learn about mammoths and their habitats and will understand that knowledge about mammoths is based on evidence," while moderate, also should be commended because it is challenging to present sophisticated science ideas to young children and their caregivers in an exhibition. For instance, helping children and caregivers understand that knowledge about mammoths is based on evidence ”connecting evidence with knowledge or knowing how we know what we know" requires high-level thinking, which according to other similar studies, is quite difficult to impart on young children. Scoring rubrics are included in this document.

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