We examined an approach to reaching audiences who may not ordinarily engage with science. Termed Guerilla Science, this approach blends elements of access, by removing barriers to participation by embedding science into unexpected places, with those of inclusion, by designing activities that speak to the learning identities of participants.
The Lineage project was a collaboration between Twin Cities Public Television and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The project included creation of a feature-length video program, a Virtual Reality game, and a set of hands-on activities designed for use by multigenerational audiences—all of which were incorporated as part of a series of seven Fossil Festival events at museums and other sites around the United States. This report presents findings from a set of external evaluation studies that examined impacts on families who participated in Fossil Festival events as well
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded OMSI funding during the spring of 2011 to create a 2,000 sq. ft. bilingual (English/Spanish) traveling exhibition exploring current research on the human microbiome and the impact of our resident microorganisms on our health. The exhibition was developed with the support of the J. Craig Venter Institute and other national experts in microbiome research. More information about the exhibition can be found at http://omsi.edu/exhibitions/zoo-in-you/. The Zoo in You Project Goals are to (1) Educate museum visitors and program participants about what
The purpose of the 3-year formative and summative evaluation was to gauge public perceptions of the utility and quality of NASA-funded workshops and programs offered by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. This final summative report includes 3-year project findings from 11 NASA Educator Workshops and three Astronomy Days events.
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North Carolina State Museum of Natural ScienceMary Styers
COSI offers special event programming on a monthly basis designed to enhance the guest experience: primarily Science Day and Fun Day special events. Science Days are events that highlight science topics, especially those dealing with our specific areas of focus, and celebrations surrounding events with a science theme, such as Space and Stars Day. On the other hand, Fun Days are events that are appealing to guests and are simple to implement, such as appearances by local sports teams, celebrities, performance groups, etc. COSI would like to better understand the impact special events have in
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) served as the external evaluator of the three-year NSF-funded Science Festival Alliance (SFA), a collaborative started by the University of California San Diego, the MIT Museum (Cambridge, MA), the University of California San Francisco, and The Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, PA). The focus of the SFA over its first three years was helping establish and sustain science festivals in each of these four cities. The Alliance’s long-term goal is to facilitate the creation of a growing network of festivals and a community of science festival practitioners. To
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted a summative evaluation of the 2007 Cambridge Science Festival. The festival was the first of its kind in the United States and was held for nine days, offering a wide range of science- and technology-related activities throughout Cambridge, Massachusetts. Patterned after science festivals in Europe, it was a public celebration that sought to make science accessible, interactive and FUN, and highlight the excitement of discovery and the impact of science in all our lives. Families and school-aged youth in the community were target audiences for the
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) is serving as the external evaluator of the NSF-funded Science Festival Alliance (SFA), a collaborative started by the University of California San Diego, the MIT Museum (Cambridge), the University of California San Francisco, and The Franklin Institute (Philadelphia). The early focus of the SFA has been on helping establish and sustain science festivals in each of these four cities. The Alliance's long-term goal is to facilitate the creation of a growing network of festivals and a community of science festival practitioners. This report focuses on the
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) is serving as the external evaluator of the three-year, NSF-funded Science Festival Alliance (SFA) project with this report summarizing results from the first year of the project. First year data collection was completed in June 2010. It included: Surveys of 1,411 San Diego Science Festival (SDSF) and 1,054 Cambridge Science Festival (CSF) attendees; End-of-year focus groups with each of the festival (SDSF and CSF) team leaders; and An online survey of 11 principal Alliance team members. The report is organized around four key questions: 1. Who participated
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is partnering with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under the renewed National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. An SCRT program website is under development with program information and a social networking page
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Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry
The NSF-funded 400 Years of the Telescope project was a unique partnership among a public television station, a production studio, two planetariums and a leading astronomical society in the United States. Its five main components included a one-hour PBS documentary, a 22-minute planetarium program, a website with astronomical infromation, "star parties"(nighttime astronomical viewing events) and promotional events hosted by PBS affiliate stations. The summative evaluation focused on three main evaluation questions: 1) What are the individual and cumulative impacts of the menu of deliverables
The fifth annual Invent It. Build It. event, sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Girl Scouts of the USA, WGBH’s Design Squad Global, the ExxonMobil Foundation, and Techbridge was held at the SWE annual conference in Los Angeles, CA. Participants included a record-breaking 619 middle school girls, plus 300 of their parents/guardians and middle school educators. More than 200 SWE members volunteered at the event to facilitate the activities, act as role models, and work closely with the middle school girls throughout the day. Thirty-two exhibitors provided information about camps