This paper presents the methodology and findings of the formative and summative evaluation of the "Kongo Ranger Station" interactive interpretive displayed located in the new "Africa Rain Forest" exhibit at the Metro Washington Park Zoo. This display focuses on conservation, natural history and cultural issues in West and Central Africa.
In this paper, researchers from Colorado State University (CSU) discuss rising concern of public land managers, ranchers, and the general public about public lands grazing and the conflicts that arise between industry and recreation-seeking citizens. The authors present findings from a research project conducted under a cooperative agreement between the College of Natural Resources at CSU, the Grand Mesa/Uncompaghre National Forest, and the Rocky Mountain Forest Experiment Station. The first phase of this research was a visitor perception study conducted on the Big Cimarron Allotment in
Stroud Water Research Center (SWRC) will partner with Longwood Gardens (LG) to develop educational materials that help visitors understand the links between the hydrologic and carbon cycles. The goal is to demonstrate how landscape aesthetics can influence land-use decisions, and to offer carbon-neutral methods the public and others can employ to reduce the impact of storm runoff. The intended audience is primarily adults among the 800,000 annual visitors to the Gardens who are landowners as well as professionals such as engineers, regional planners, landscape architects, developers and municipal officials. This project will also communicate research to public audiences through SWRC and LG websites.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Louis KaplanJ. Denis NewboldSusan GillAnthony Aufdenkampe
resourceprojectWebsites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media
SETAC is funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union and emerges out of the need to undertake specific action for the improvement of science education. It regards science education as among the fundamental tools for developing active citizens in the knowledge society. SETAC draws on the cooperation between formal and informal learning institutions, aiming to enhance school science education and active citizenship looking further into the role of science education as a lifelong tool in the knowledge society. On the day of the project’s conclusion, 31 October 2010, after two years of work SETAC contributes the following products and results to the field: 1. “Quality Science Education: Where do we stand? Guidelines for practice from a European experience” This is the concluding manifesto that presents the results of the SETAC work in the form of recommendations for practitioners working in formal and informal science learning institutions; 2. “Teaching and Learning Scientific Literacy and Citizenship in Partnership with Schools and Science Museums” This paper constitutes the theoretical framework of the project and innovative ways of using museums for science education and develop new modes of linking formal and informal learning environments; 3. Tools for teaching and learning in science: misconceptions, authentic questions, motivation. Three specific studies, leading to three specific reports, have been conducted in the context of the project, looking in particular into notions with an important role in science teaching and learning. These are on: Children’s misconceptions; Authentic questions as tool when working in science education; Students’ attitudes and motivation as factors influencing their achievement and participation in science and science-related issues; 4. Activities with schools: SETAC developed a series of prototype education activities which were tested with schools in each country. Among the activities developed between the partners, two have been chosen and are available on-line for practitioners to use and to adapt in their own context. These are: The Energy role game, a role game on Energy invites students to act in different roles, those of the stakeholders of an imaginary community, called to debate and decide upon a certain common problem; MyTest www.museoscienza.org/myTest, which aims to encourage students to engage in researching, reflecting and communicating science-oriented topics; 5. European in-service training course for primary and secondary school teachers across Europe. The training course is designed in such a way as to engage participants in debate and exploration of issues related to science education and active citizenship. The course is open to school teachers, headteachers and teacher trainers from all EU-member and associate countries. Professionals interested can apply for a EU Comenius grant. All the products of the project as well as information about the training course are available at the project website, some of them in more than one languages: www.museoscienza.org/setac
Presentation on the evaluation of NSF grant DRL-0917595 (Sustainability: Promoting Sustainable Decision Making in Informal Education) presented at the CAISE Convening on Sustainability Science and Informal Science Education, February 6th, 2012.
Presentation on the evaluation of NSF grant DRL-0917640 (The Energy Project) presented at the CAISE Convening on Sustainability Science and Informal Science Education, February 6th, 2012.
Presentation on NSF grant DRL-0917640 (The Energy Project) presented at the CAISE Convening on Sustainability Science and Informal Science Education, February 6th, 2012.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barinetta Scott
resourceresearchMuseum and Science Center Programs
Presentation on NSF grant DRL-1010938 (Saving Species: Socially-Networked Exhibits for Science Inquiry and Public Action) presented at the CAISE Convening on Sustainability Science and Informal Science Education, February 6th, 2012.
Presentation on NSF grant DRL-0741760 (""Future Earth Initiative)"") presented at the CAISE Convening on Sustainability Science and Informal Science Education, February 6th, 2012.
A NSF EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) was awarded to Principal Investigator John Fraser, PhD, AIA, in collaboration with co-Principal Investigators, Mary Miss and William Solecki, PhD, for City as Living Laboratory for Sustainability in Urban Design (CaLL). The CaLL project explored how public art installations can promote public discussion about sustainability. The project examined the emerging role of artists and visual thinkers as people with the skills to encourage conversation between scientists and the public. The grant supported an experimental installation
A multifaceted evaluation study was conducted of the 2,000-square-foot exhibit "Darkened Waters: Profile of an Oil Spill" between September 14 and October 12, 1991, at the Oakland Museum, Natural Sciences Department. "Darkened Waters" is the second generation of an exhibit originally conceived and built by the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska, to provide information and a forum for the environmental impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The exhibit will travel to the Smithsonian Institution in December 1991, and will be available to other institutions through the Association of Science
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a formative evaluation of two prototypes Mexican Era section and Model Table for the Becoming Los Angeles exhibition. RK&A designed this study, which was preceded by a front-end and earlier formative evaluation, to help NHM further refine the development of the exhibition. How did we approach this study? RK&A utilized open-ended interviews to evaluate visitors' responses to the two prototypes. In order to accurately assess these responses, the prototypes were evaluated separately
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County