Sustainability: Promoting Sustainable Decision Making in Informal Education Exhibition Summative Evaluation

Overview of Clever Together/Juntos somos ingeniosos and Evaluation: As part of the National Science Foundation funded "Sustainability: Promoting Sustainable Decision Making in Informal Education" project, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and its partners developed a bilingual (Spanish/English) exhibition. The goal of this and other project deliverables was to promote sustainable decision making by building skills that allow participants to weigh their choices and choose more sustainable practices. Clever Together/Juntos somos ingeniosos is a permanent, bilingual exhibition at OMSI that promotes sustainable decision-making through considerations of social, environmental, and economic sustainability. The exhibition includes eight individual components that address everyday choices about food, transportation, consumption, and energy in order to promote the project’s big idea: We can cultivate a more sustainable community by building skills and making decisions that maximize positive impacts. The summative study evaluated the exhibition’s achievement of the following impacts: 1.Participants will understand skills associated with sustainable decision making in their everyday lives. 2. Participants will be encouraged to engage in more sustainable practices in the following categories: Transportation, Energy Conservation, Consumption & Waste, and Food. The Sustainability project duration was September 2009–April 2015. Portland State University, in collaboration with OMSI, supported many phases of evaluation during the project and led all summative evaluation activities. Findings: Family groups were recruited for participation and surveyed on their experience of the exhibition. Family groups included 30 English-speaking families (Group 1) and 21 Spanish-speaking families (Group 2). Findings were organized by participant group, but not for comparative purposes. The data provided insights of varying substance, yet overall revealed successful achievement of the intended outcomes and exceeded minimum impact goals for both family groups. Over 70% of participants captured the big idea: We can cultivate a more sustainable community by building skills and making decisions that maximize positive impacts. Over half of participants understood skills that support sustainable decision-making abilities. Over 60% of participants identified available options to make more sustainable decisions. Over 65% of participants reported that they will intend to make more sustainable decisions in any of the following areas: Transportation, Energy Conservation, Consumption & Waste, and Food. Families captured the big idea, and demonstrated understanding and intention to support sustainable decision-making skills. The following recommendations for future projects emerged from the evaluation findings: 1. Continue to build on decision-making skills using the three-pillar framework. 2. Partner with Hispanic-serving organizations to recruit attendees and study participants. 3. Sustainability is a challenging concept. 4. Promote more understanding of decision-making skills. 5. Encourage learners with higher levels of sustainability understanding to motivate others.

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