This report was completed by the Program Evaluation Research Group at Endicott College in October 2013. It describes the outcomes and impacts of a four-year, NSF-funded project called Go Botany: Integrated Tools to Advance Botanical Learning (grant number 0840186). Go Botany focuses on fostering increased interest in and knowledge of botany among youth and adults in New England. This was being done through the creation of an online flora for the region, along with the development of related tools, including PlantShare, and a user-friendly interface for ‘smartphones’. In January 2012, the PI
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Judah LeblangNew England Wild Flower Society
Roto, an exhibition design and production firm, contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a front-end evaluation of Speed, an exhibition being developed for The Science Museum of Virginia (SMV) in Richmond, Virginia. RK&A explored visitors’ thoughts, perceptions, and understandings of exhibition concepts related to speed, defined as change over time. How did we approach this study? RK&A worked closely with Roto to identify the goals and objectives for the Speed exhibition. Findings from the front-end evaluation were designed to help Roto and SMV find common ground between
MarshAccess is an informal science education program based at the Meadowlands Environment Center (MEC) in Lyndhurst, NJ, and funded by the National Science Foundation. MarshAccess seeks to engage largely underserved populations of young and older adults with disabilities, as well as older adults with age-related limitations, in outdoor experiential STEM activities centered on the New Jersey Meadowlands marsh ecosystem. Program modules are designed to increase interest in science, increase scientific literacy, develop a sustained relationship between the MEC and the target audience and audience
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Hilarie B. DavisBradford T. DaveyRamapo College of New Jersey
The goals of this Pathways Project will be to: 1) learn how to better recruit and sustain deep relationships with seniors and youth; 2)facilitate the roles that these two audiences can play as collaborators in field research and conservation science; 3) study ways that seniors and young people as well as scientists and lay people might interact most effectively while in training and in the field, and 4) study cognitive and affective impacts of such collaborations upon both citizens and professionals.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
PEER AssociatesNational Audubon Society
Introduction The American Anthropological Association contracted with Minda Borun, Museum Solutions, to conduct a summative evaluation of the website http://www.understandingrace.com/ developed by s2n Media in connection with the Race exhibit. The exhibit, created by the AAA and the Science Museum of Minnesota, will travel to museums around the country. The website complements the exhibit and also stands on its own as a rich resource on the subject of race and human variation. The summative evaluation is based on an online survey. The link was posted on the website and data was collected using
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Minda BorunAmerican Anthropological Association
The University of Pennsylvania Museum received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop, install, and evaluate an exhibition on human evolution. The exhibition, entitled Surviving: The Body of Evidence, opened in May, 2008. It was produced and first exhibited in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and will travel to other venues across the United States. Surviving is a ground-breaking exhibition which looks at contemporary human beings in the context of their evolutionary history. Containing approximately 4,000 square feet of
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Minda BorunUniversity of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology