The Vertically Integrated Science Learning Opportunity (VISLO) program builds upon an existing three-way partnership between (i) faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students form the University Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), (ii) the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CLC) in Lincoln, NE, and (iii) The University of Nebraska State Museum.
VISLO uniquely incorporates vertically-integrated peer instruction across educational levels, including: graduate, undergraduate, middle school, and elementary school. Throughout the program, participants of all identified educational levels had
This summative evaluation report details the Broad Implementation of the Living Laboratory model--an initiative to promote partnership between museums and cognitive science researchers in order to promote professional learning and involve the public in scientific research. The evaluation investigated the extent of the dissemination effort’s depth, spread, sustainability, and shift in ownership, based on Coburn’s criteria for scale-up (2003). Evaluators collected data from surveys, interviews, focus groups, document review, and observations. Findings about depth suggest that adopters fully
The CSMC-OMSI Partnership for Public Engagement (COPPE) project was developed to establish a strong and long-lasting partnership between the Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry (CSMC) and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Through participation in this project, COPPE researchers and OMSI educators sought a deeper understanding of each other's profession while simultaneously developing a suite of Informal Science Education (ISE) outreach programs that engage the public in new and enduring ways. These new ISE platforms were developed to enhance public awareness in the areas
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Oregon Museum of Science and IndustryAnne Sinkey
This study focused on informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues. It sought to explore how content knowledge influenced the negotiation and resolution of contentious and complex scenarios based on genetic engineering. Two hundred and sixty-nine students drawn from undergraduate natural science and nonnatural science courses completed a quantitative test of genetics concepts. Two subsets (n = 15 for each group) of the original sample representing divergent levels of content knowledge participated in individual interviews, during which they articulated positions, rationales
The data collection for this project involved three audiences: (1) a post-event survey completed by participants at the 'Eight-Legged Encounters' event, (2) a club experience survey completed by middle school students in an after-school club, and (3) focus groups, observations, and end-of-course evaluations conducted with students in the BIOS 497/897 'Communicating Science through Outreach' seminar class at the University of Lincoln, Nebraska. Year two data collection was completed from September 2013 - March 2014. Appendix includes survey.
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University of Nebraska-LincolnEileen Hebets
Learning to design and deliver research information customized for particular audiences is one major goal of the Museum of Science’s Research Communication Laboratory (RCL). Judging of short research presentations by an independent judge revealed that graduate students from MIT’s Center for Excitonics who participated in RCL demonstrated significantly better spoken and graphic communication skills compared with graduate students who did not experience RCL instruction. The judge rated RCL students as significantly better than non-RCL students with respect to three criteria: 1) presentation
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
One objective of the Center for High-rate Manufacturing is to increase knowledge of and interest in nanotechology among secondary and postsecondary students, educators, and the general public. The Center partners with the Museum of Science, Boston, to help carry out these goals. The Museum's CHN sub-award PI and her team provides training to graduate students to help them learn how to engage in education and outreach activities with these groups. To better understand graduate student education and outreach activities, and student participation in the Museum of Science outreach activities and
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UMass Donahue Institute Research and Evaluation GroupCarol Lynn AlpertCarol Barry
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN) brings together three universities with unique strengths in nanoscience and nanomanufacturing: the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UML); Northeastern University, Boston (NEU); and the University of New Hampshire, Durham (UNH). The University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (UMDI) is conducting the five-year evaluation of CHN's education and outreach activities. The evaluation uses multiple sources of evidence to analyze project processes and outcomes. Using quantitative and qualitative
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Center for High-rate NanomanufacturingCarol Lynn AlpertCarol Barry
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN) brings together three universities with unique strengths in nanoscience and nanomanufacturing: the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UML); Northeastern University, Boston (NEU); and the University of New Hampshire, Durham (UNH). The University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (UMDI) is conducting the five-year evaluation of CHN's education and outreach activities. The evaluation uses multiple sources of evidence to analyze project processes and outcomes. Using quantitative and qualitative
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Center for High-rate NanomanufacturingCarol Lynn AlpertCarol BarryUMass Donahue Institute Research and Evaluation Group
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This guide provides effective practices for anyone — university faculty member, K–12 teacher, or administrator — who wants to create a project that partners science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students (Fellows) with K–12 teachers on a sustained basis. These recommendations come from the community of faculty members, graduate students, K–12 teachers, program managers, and evaluators who participated in the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate STEM Fellows in K–12 Education (GK–12) Program from its start in 1999 through 2012. The guide was written to
The EDC Center for Children and Technology (CCT), a nonprofit international research organization, conducted the formative evaluation of the first year's implementation of the Be A Scientist! (BAS) project. The goal of this five-year afterschool family science program project is to provide quality science and engineering courses to underserved families in New York City and Los Angeles. It targeted underserved first graders and their families in the Spring 2010. Guiding by formative research questions (e.g., X) and using multi-method research approach (e.g., X), CCT researchers uncovered