In fall 2019, the Bell Museum received funding via a NASA TEAM II grant to create Mars: The Ultimate Voyage, a full-dome planetarium show and accompanying hands-on activities that focus on the interdisciplinary roles that will be needed to send humans to Mars. This report from Catalyst Consulting Group presents the findings from the summative evaluation completed in March–May 2023.
In spring 2019, WestEd conducted a pilot study using five playlists to understand the feasibility of implementing the playlists in afterschool programs and to discuss the potential impact of the playlists on student science learning. The research questions were: 1) How are the playlists implemented in after-school programs? 2) What is the potential impact of playlists on student science knowledge and skills? Student science knowledge was measured using the ScienceQuest test, and attitudes towards science were measured by the Emerging STEM Learning Activation Survey. Data were analyzed using a
Framing: Broadening participation and achieving equitable outcomes has been a core goal of the science museum field for over two decades. However, how to make progress has proven an intractable problem.
Methods: Focusing on five organizations who officially committed to diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) by participating in a national professional development program, the researchers investigate how science museums attempt to enact internally-focused change via a mixed methods case study.
Findings: While these organizations considered a variety of structurally focused change
The Summative Study of the Nano Mini-exhibition took place during the spring and summer of 2012. After being observed during their Mini-exhibition experience, 455 visitors across six different partner institutions participated in surveys and interviews with NISE Net evaluation team members. This report begins by describing the key findings of the study in detail, with additional information about study methods, instruments, and two exploratory sub-studies found in the Appendices.