The Center for Children and Technology (CCT) at Education Development Center, Inc., an international nonprofit research and development organization (cct.edc.org), conducted the formative evaluation of the fourth year of the Be A Scientist! (BAS) project. This project, managed by Iridescent—a nonprofit afterschool science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program (www.iridescentlearning.org), has the goal of providing high-quality afterschool science and engineering courses to underserved families in New York City and Los Angeles. The project aims to enable participants to
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the world's largest experimental facilities, where thousands of scientists and engineers from over 100 countries collaborate to shed new light on the workings of our universe. As LHC research, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson, continues to hit the news in future years, it will be important for educators in informal science institutions to understand how to engage their visiting public's interests and curiosities and shape their understanding regarding this leading edge research. Funded by
This evaluation provides feedback from a tracking and timing study from the project "Seeing: The Interaction of Physiology, Culture, and Technology" at the Exploratorium. The evaluation concludes that Seeing is a large, complex collection of loosely related exhibit elements that attract and hold visitors’ attention well, but not exceptionally well. Yet, given the size and scope of the exhibits, a longer average time and more stops would not be expected. The individual interactive elements range from many that are modestly engaging, to some that are highly engaging, with a few exceptionally
The Seeing Team wished to determine visitors what visitors understood from interacting with the Seeing section of the museum, before the section was to be renovated. In particular, they wanted to know what visitors took away from the exhibits as a group. We interviewed pairs of visitors after they had been directed to spend as much time as they wanted in the Seeing section (as marked off by blue tape on the floor). Seeing included the exhibits in the back of the museum as well as those near the south bathrooms. We collected approximately 55 interviews, of which 33 had been transcribed by the
Fifty visitors to SMM were recruited on the exhibit floor of the museum and asked to view the first draft of a seven-minute movie being developed for the Science on a Sphere exhibit. Visitors were brought into a small room, sat down and viewed the movie on a computer laptop. After watching the movie, visitors were asked a series of questions to assess their interest, enjoyment, and particular aspects of the movie. Visitors aged eight and above were eligible to be interviewed.
EDC’s Center for Children and Technology (CCT), a nonprofit research and development organization (cct.edc.org), conducted the formative evaluation of the BAS project for the last three years. Iridescent has assisted CCT researchers in the successful implementation of the evaluation (e.g., organizing site visits and meetings with partners, administering surveys, collecting consent forms). As discussed in more details below, Iridescent has always taken seriously the evaluation findings and recommendations, and has acted upon them to make program improvements. This research partnership has led
At the Maryland Science Center, a new permanent exhibition with a companion mobile game is focused on electricity. Multimedia Research, an independent evaluation firm, implemented a summative evaluation to assess how using the PowerUp! game in the exhibition influences engagement and knowledge acquisition. The evaluation collected timing and tracking observations and pre- and post-interview data from 18 ten-year-olds who used the game within the Power Up! exhibition area and 16 ten-year-olds who did not use the game. Game players experienced the Power Up! exhibition area differently from non
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Maryland Science CenterBarbara FlaggIlona Holland
Rockman et al evaluated BURN: An Energy Journal, an NSF-funded radio series about the energy issues that impact our communities. Evaluation activities consisted of formative and summative focus groups, web usability studies, interviews with listeners, and surveys.
This professional development event was held on November 6 and 7, 2006, at the Museum of Science, Boston, under the direction of the Museum’s Director for Strategic Projects, Carol Lynn Alpert. This event was sponsored by the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) headquartered at Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts – Lowell, and by the “Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications” NSF NSEC headquartered at Harvard University. Research and evaluation of the Symposium was funded independently by the
Sci•Tech Today is a brief televised science news program designed to enhance public understanding of current science, engineering and technology. The 3-5 minute segments are researched and presented by Museum of Science staff and mediated by a news anchor of New England Cable News (NECN). The segments are cablecast live from the Museum of Science’s Gordon Current Science & Technology stage and NECN's Needham, Massachusetts studios. Twice a month, the segments feature nanoscale science and engineering research. These segments are produced with support from (1) the Center for High-Rate
This professional development event was held on November 6 and 7, 2005 at the Museum of Science, Boston, under the direction of the Museum’s Director for Strategic Projects, Carol Lynn Alpert. This event was sponsored by the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) headquartered at Northeastern University, the University of Massachusetts – Lowell, and by the “Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications” NSF NSEC headquartered at Harvard University. The Symposium was intended to provide educators from middle schools, high schools
The Museum of Science partnered with the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing to create a sequence of professional development experiences in science communication and hands-on learning for graduate students and post-docs. The Sharing Science Workshops were intended to help graduate students who work with the CHN program to improve their abilities to present their research to a variety of scientific and nonscientific audiences. The sequence included a half-day "Sharing Science" workshop, a half-day guided "Practicum" with museum visitors, and optional participation in NanoDays events at MOS