The Wild Center will partner with Adirondack Museum, Cornell’s Maple Program, and New York State/Northeastern New York Maple Producers Associations to build regional identity, revitalize a heritage industry, and connect people to nature through the art, story, history, and science of maple sugaring. The Northern New York Maple Project will create interpretative exhibits with ecological, historical, and economic information. The museum will develop an instructional maple sugaring video; a touch-screen story kiosk that lets visitors share stories through the exhibit and social media; a storytelling workshop for staff, project partners, and maple producers; community events and conferences; a school education program; community sugaring workshops; and educational materials, website, social media, and outreach to industry, food enthusiasts, and the business community. Regular planning meetings on goals and deliverables will track results and an outside consultant will evaluate the overall success of the project.
An IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) National Leadership project with University of California Museum of Paleontology (lead), Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Museum of the Earth and University of Kansas Natural History Museum to create a tree portal website with learning research, curriculum material and guides on how to effectively use and teach about the tree of life for teachers and museum professionals.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
University of California-BerkeleyTeresa MacDonaldRoy CaldwellAnna ThanukosLisa WhiteDavid HeiserRobert Ross
This report summarizes the evaluation findings of the first year of the Science Beyond the Boundaries Early Learners Collaborative (ELC). The three-year project, funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), connects science centers and children’s museums to enhance early learner programming. In Year One, the ELC brought together five institutions to collaborate directly through regularly scheduled conference call discussions. During these discussions they shared their program experience, ideas on early childhood programs, and their thoughts on current early learner
According to this report, libraries and museums are effective but often overlooked resources in the United States' effort to turn around a crisis in early learning, exposing children to powerful learning experiences in the critical early years and keeping them learning through the summer months. This document provides dozens of examples and 10 key ways libraries and museums are supporting young children. It provides a clear call to policymakers, schools, funders, and parents to make full use of these vital, existing community resources.
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Intitute of Museum and Library ServicesMarsha SemmelMamie BittnerAllison BoalsMary Lynn HowardAndrea Camp
Supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Safari Adventure Advisory Committee Workshop was held on March 11, 2013 at the Bronx Zoo, with the following experts and educators in the fields of children and nature education, hands-on and place-based learning, and digital learning: Professor Louise Chawla, educator David T. Sobel, Urban Assembly high school principal Mark Ossenheimer, researcher Ingrid Erickson, and noted author and environmentalist Richard Louv. Through this workshop, we obtained scholarly input for the purpose of assessing the conceptual
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Wildlife Conservation SocietyLee Patrick
This report discusses a front-end evaluation that aimed to determine what physical and perceptual barriers affect visitors’ use of the Henry Art Gallery, and how visitors currently interact with museum spaces and staff. These findings will support guest service training and changes in the museum’s physical infrastructure. This study utilized three main questions for exploring the visitor experience at the museum: 1) Are there barriers affecting visitors’ use of the Henry?; 2) What motivates visitors to use certain spaces at the Henry?; and 3) What experiences are visitors having with Henry
The Leonard Lief Library and Department of Art at Lehman College will create an Animated Information Literacy Advocate to explore the feasibility of using animation to foster information literacy in college-age students. Information literacy skills, including assessing information, locating sources, thinking critically, and acting ethically, are especially vital for young people entering the workforce. Four videos featuring an animated advocate developed using Kabuki RealTime Animation software will introduce learners to critical thinking in dramatic scenarios. Focus groups will be conducted to measure student satisfaction and measure outcomes of learning. The advocate will be the first animated character to deliver information literacy instruction, providing the broader library field with a new area of research in online instruction as well as the ability to test three pedagogical strategies.
Florida State University and partner University of Alabama will collect and analyze data on how STEM teachers can most effectively collaborate with librarians. The data will be collected at focus groups held at four national conferences: the American Association of School Librarians, the Public Library Association, the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. This variety of participants at these conferences will allow for diverse opinions, thoughts, and ideas to be compiled, supporting the analysis of how the collaboration between STEM teacher and librarian is working today and providing recommendations on how it could be improved. The overall goal of this planning grant is to assess what is happening in the field so the information can then be shared with the educational and library communities for greater impact.
The goal of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Academic and Cultural Enrichment (ACE) Scholars: New Americans for Community College Librarianship project is to increase the number of immigrants and refugees in community college librarianship. The project includes a recruitment drive, a targeted and focused curriculum that emphasizes multicultural, multilingual, and community engaged librarianship, and a proven practicum model, the Real Learning Connections. The project will result in a sustainable curriculum as well as a multilingual and multicultural cadre of 10 librarians, ready to serve diverse community college students, and ready to work in community college library environments.