Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Amazon Adventure is an Innovations in Development project directed by Pacific Science Center in partnership with: SK Films; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Embodied Games; and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Tangled Bank Studios. The project deliverables produced during the grant period include a giant screen film, live stage presentation for use at informal science education (ISE) institutions, and educational resources.
The centerpiece of the project, the Amazon Adventure film, is a 45-minute giant screen film shown in
RMC Research designed evaluation activities to provide formative and summative feedback to the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation (HBRF) on their NSF Pathways project, Forest Science Dialogues (FSD). FSD consists of a plan to engage with scientists at the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study and with the surrounding community using the Hubbard Brook Roundtable dialogue process in order to facilitate mutual learning. The purpose of this engagement was to increase public knowledge, understanding, and awareness of ecosystem science in the Northern Forest in order to enrich local dialogue surrounding
As part of a grant from the National Science Foundation, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) developed, implemented, and evaluated the National Center for Blind Youth in Science (NCBYS), a three-year full-scale development project to increase informal learning opportunities for blind youth in STEM. Through this grant, the NCBYS extended opportunities for informal science learning for the direct benefit of blind students by conducting six NFB STEM2U regional programs included programs for blind youth, their parents/caregivers, blind teen mentors (apprentices), and museum educators.
This report summarizes findings from a three-year study of the Time Team America: Science of Archeology project, funded by the National Science Foundation. The project included a series of archaeology field schools for youth, four broadcast episodes and a redesigned website with a variety of information and instructional resources. The evaluation included both formative and summative components and a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods including surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Includes interview protocol and survey.
Signs in both English and Spanish alert museum visitors when evaluation activities are taking place. Signs indicate whether filming, photography, or videotaping with audio are taking place.
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Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
This umbrella protocol developed by the Exploratorium outlines their policy of determining whether they can share video recordings of minors based on whether or not they have obtained parental consent. Distinctions are drawn between recordings filmed in public and non-public (ie. focus group) spaces.
This document outlines OMSI's general approach to consent, differentiating between adults and minors and between adults who have been explicitly “invited” to participate and those who are in non-invitational settings, then describes details of consent for each method and audience.
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Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
In February 2013, the Atomic Heritage Foundation (AHF) brought together historians, sociologists and other scholars, as well as museum directors and thought leaders from the informal science education field to engage in a two-day discussion to explore ways to engage the public in the topic of the development of the atomic bomb in the context of history, society and culture. The workshop, titled "Transforming the Relationship Between Science and Society: The Manhattan Project and Its Legacy," had as its overarching goal to identify how the Manhattan Project might best be interpreted in a
In this paper, Margaret Marino of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History discusses methodology and findings of an extensive summative evaluation of the "Horse Tales--An Evolutionary Odyssey" exhibit. This permanent exhibition on the history, biomechanics and importance of the horse in the southwest premiered at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History before it was moved to the new Anne C. Stradling Museum of the Horse in Ruidoso, New Mexico. The appendix of this paper includes the observation forms and visitor survey used in the study.
This paper discusses how audience research can help staff at historic houses monitor the quality of their offerings and attract visitors. It provides a review of evaluation efforts at one historic house, the Moody Mansion and Museum, from the perspective of the museum director, Patrick H. Butler III, as well as an evaluator, Ross J. Loomis of Colorado State University, who worked with Butler and other museum staff. This paper includes questions from a short visitor survey used in the research.
This paper examines one Australian museum’s commitment to create social awareness of political issues within its community. The paper begins by discussing the challenge of cultural representation of Indigenous peoples in the context of civic engagement. Some of the historical and political issues facing Indigenous Australians and their representation in Museums are discussed. A study of the Indigenous Australians exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney investigates visitors’ perceptions of the exhibition. Recommendations are made as they relate to community partnerships, interpretive
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Katherine S. H. BoumanAustralian Museum
Summative evaluation of the NSF- and NEH-funded Hunters of the Sky exhibition, including remedial, timing and tracking, and summative. The 5,000 square foot exhibition takes a science and humanities perspective on birds of prey. A particular focus of the evaluation was the exhibition's impact on "getting visitors to explore their own values and beliefs about the human relationship to the natural world" as well as "getting visitors to critically examine questions of economics, public policy, and environmental ethics related to the survival of raptors and their habitats." Sample data collection
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Deborah PerryKarla NiehusScience Museum of Minnesota