The Wild Center will partner with Adirondack Museum, Cornell’s Maple Program, and New York State/Northeastern New York Maple Producers Associations to build regional identity, revitalize a heritage industry, and connect people to nature through the art, story, history, and science of maple sugaring. The Northern New York Maple Project will create interpretative exhibits with ecological, historical, and economic information. The museum will develop an instructional maple sugaring video; a touch-screen story kiosk that lets visitors share stories through the exhibit and social media; a storytelling workshop for staff, project partners, and maple producers; community events and conferences; a school education program; community sugaring workshops; and educational materials, website, social media, and outreach to industry, food enthusiasts, and the business community. Regular planning meetings on goals and deliverables will track results and an outside consultant will evaluate the overall success of the project.
Children’s issues have become a greater priority on political agendas since the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Each government has agreed to ensure that all those working with and for children understand their duties in relation to upholding children’s rights including the obligation to involve children in decisions that affect them (Article 12). Respecting children’s views is not just a model of good pedagogical practice, but a legally binding obligation. However, there is a limited awareness of Article 12, and how to actualise it. While many
Currently, many museums present histories of science and technology, but very few are integrating scientific activity--observation, measurement, experimentation-with the time- and place-specific narratives that characterize history-learning experiences. For the Prairie Science project, Conner Prairie is combining proven science center-style activities, developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota, with family-engagement strategies developed through extensive research and testing with audiences in historical settings. The goal of this integration is to create guest experiences that are rich in both STEM and historical content and encourage family learning. One key deliverable of this project is the Create.Connect gallery, which is currently installed at Conner Prairie. Create.Connect allows the project team to evaluate and research hands-on activities, facilitation strategies and historic settings to understand how these elements combine to encourage family conversations and learning around historical narratives and STEM content. For example, in one exhibit area families can experiment with creating their own efficient wind turbine designs while learning about the innovations of the Flint & Walling windmill manufacturing company from Indiana. The activity is facilitated by a historic interpreter portraying a windmill salesman from 1900. The interpreter not only guides the family though the process of scientific inquiry, but shares his historic perspective on wind power as well. Two other exhibit areas invite hands-on exploration of electrical circuits and forces in motion as they connect to stories from Indiana history. Evaluation and research findings from the Create.Connect exhibit will be used to develop a model that can guide other history institutions that want to incorporate STEM content and thinking into their exhibits and interpretation. By partnering with the Science Museum of Minnesota, we will combine the experience of science center professionals and history museum professionals to find the best practices for incorporating science activities into historic settings. To ensure that this dissemination model is informed from many perspectives, Conner Prairie has invited the participation of four history museums: The Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic, Connecticut; the California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, California; the Wabash County Historical Society, Wabash, Indiana; and the Oliver H. Kelley Farm, Elk River, Minnesota. Each of the four participants will install history-STEM exhibit components which will be connected to location-specific historic narratives. Drawing on the staff experience and talents of participant museums, this project will develop realistic solutions to an array of anticipated barriers. These issues and the resulting approaches will become part of a stronger, more adaptable dissemination model that will support history museums in creating STEM-based guest experiences.
This award addresses the archaeological issues surrounding the ancestral Pueblo people and their Neolithic revolution or disappearance from the Mesa Verde region of southwestern US. The research describes the people, their living conditions and the environment, their impact on the region and the reason for their exodus to form new societies such as the Tewa-Pueblo society. The research and its results are significant, from both an archaeological and socio-cultural standpoint. An exhibit is planned, to explain and inform the public, in the History Colorado Center in Denver, Colorado, that will transfer this cultural knowledge to the under-served public including Native American and numerous rural residents. The effort is a collaborative endeavor involving the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colorado and the new History Colorado Center. The exhibit will feature a typical living area, a scientific area with discussion of tree rings, and an area for discussion with scientific experts. In addition, the deliverable will include a website for further discussion with scientist and for accessing the latest research efforts. The evaluation of this project is extensive starting from an overall evaluation of the museum itself and how to make this exhibit a significant part of the museum, pleasing to the audiences and how to improve its impact once the exhibit is open.
The Science Museum of Minnesota, in collaboration with six NSF-funded Science and Technology Centers (STCs) around the country, is developing several deliverables around the theme of the Anthropocene; that is, the idea that Earth has entered a new geologic epoch in which humanity is the dominant agent of global change. Deliverables include: (1) a 3,500 square-foot exhibit with object theater at the museum; (2) an Earth Buzz Web site that focuses on global change topics equivalent in design intent to the museum's popular current science Science Buzz website; (3) kiosks with Earth Buzz experiences installed in selected public venues; (4) Public programs with decision makers and opinion leaders on the implications of a human-dominated planet; and (5) youth programs and activities that engage them with the exhibit, web site, and careers in STEM. The exhibits and Web site will feature scientific visualizations and computational models adapted to public learning environments from research work being conducted by STCs and other academic research partners. First-person narrative videos of scientists and their research produced by Twin Cities Public Television now are on display in the Future Earth exhibit and also have been packaged into a half-hour program for broadcast statewide. The intended strategic impact on the field of informal STEM education is twofold: (1) explore how to accelerate the dissemination of scientific research to public audiences; (2) investigate ways science centers/museums can serve as forums for public policy dialogues.
Mystic Seaport received an implementation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund a suite of online, onsite, offsite, and onboard public programs and exhibits that will provide new national insight into universal and important humanities themes, through an interdisciplinary exploration of historic and contemporary American whaling. The Museum and its partners will explore through this project how, when, and why dominant American perceptions of whales and whaling took their dramatic turns. The project will raise public awareness in New England and nationwide about the role the whaling industry played in the development of our nation’s multi-ethnic make-up, our domestic economy, our global impact and encounters, and our long-standing fascination with whales. And it will promote thought about the nation’s whaling heritage, and how it continues to shape our communities and culture.
In collaboration with the libraries of Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Mount Holyoke College, the American Library Association proposes a traveling exhibit and public programs for 40 libraries examining the history and legacy of the Dust Bowl. The project spotlights Ken Burns' film "The Dust Bowl," and brings to public view two little known Dust Bowl archives: online oral history interviews of Dust Bowl survivors at OSU, and letters and essays of Caroline Henderson, a Mount Holyoke alumna who farmed in Oklahoma throughout the Dust Bowl. Libraries will display the exhibit for 6 weeks and present at least 3 public humanities programs from a list provided. The project humanities themes include the interaction between humans and nature; the different ways human beings respond to adversity; and how people living in the Dust Bowl tried to understand their social, economic, and ecological environment.
This is an overview of audience research and evaluation pertaining to the exhibition "Living With Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond". The process of investigating the perceptions of audiences and visitors was mostly designed to inform the interpretive planning process. Then, after the exhibit opened to the public in late October 2010, the intent was to describe and assess the experiences of visitors. Ten audience/visitor studies were conducted over a seven-year period, five of which were designed to inform the planning process and five of which were conducted after the exhibition opened to
The research presented in this report was the tenth and final study in a multi-phase evaluation plan for “Living With Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond,” an exhibition created by the Louisiana State Museum and installed at the Presbytere building. The exhibition opened in October 2010; a remedial evaluation was conducted in November 2010; the summative evaluation was conducted in the spring and summer of 2011; preparations for this longitudinal study began in the fall of 2011, the telephone interviews were conducted in the spring of 2013. Results from this analysis indicate that “Living With
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Louisiana State MuseumJeff HaywardJolene Hart
The Discover Aeronautics and Aerospace Gallery (Discover) engages students, families and the general public in the STEM research that makes major accomplishments in space and aeronautics possible. Great Lakes Science Center, home of NASA Glenn Visitor Center, developed the gallery in collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to provide interactive learning opportunities, amazing NASA artifacts, and multimedia experiences that encourages them to discover more about STEM. The overarching project goal is to engage visitors in the important research of NASA GRC, and summative evaluation concluded that Discover is an immersive environment of interactive exhibits that increases visitors’ levels of knowledge about aeronautic and aerospace research. The Gallery successfully raises the profile of NASA GRC, and emphasizes the importance of research and experimentation for the challenges of flight – in the air and in space.
Discover is divided into mini-laboratory settings—Aeronautics Lab, Materials Lab, Rocket Lab and Power Lab—and the Discover Stage, an ideal environment for demonstrations, and presentations by astronauts and aerospace experts. When not in use for live productions, the stage hosts a video tour of NASA GRC’s impressive labs and test chambers. Visitors can experiment with a microgravity drop tower, plan a space mission, analyze slow-motion footage from a ballistic impact facility, see how motion and sound are affected by the vacuum of space, and more. Discover engages over 300,000 visitors a year in the STEM research necessary for flight. As part of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, the Gallery exemplifies the Science Center’s dedication to sharing NASA content to inform, engage, and inspire students, educators, and the public. Discover immerses visitors in the exciting challenges and rewards of space exploration, and is a place of inspiration for tomorrow’s scientific leadership and workforce.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Donald Paterson
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
This project comprises the NSF-funded portion of the renovation of a 25,000 sq. ft. natural history gallery called "CHANGING CALIFORNIA." ORIGINAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) will develop, implement, and evaluate Hotspot California, a research-based natural science gallery transformation that will explore the educational potential of wildlife dioramas to engage the public in urgent environmental issues. The exhibition will showcase five real places in California that exemplify high biological diversity and complex environmental issues. Innovative approaches to interpretation will emphasize personal connections to these places and infuse static dioramas with visualization technologies that illustrate environmental change over time. The project will explore how such enhancements to dioramas might help visitors develop place-based connections to the natural world. The project has four major deliverables: 1) an innovative 25,000 sq ft gallery exhibition installation featuring five specific California places where California's unique biodiversity is threatened; 2) an application and evaluation of a new participatory exhibit design model involving community contribution, collaboration, and co-design; 3) a two-day "synthesis symposium" for informal science education professionals to consider broad applications of project findings for the field; and 4) "Diorama Dilemmas: A Source book for Museums," synthesizing relevant literature, case studies, and findings from the project's research and evaluation generalizable to the field. The project has evolved since the NSF award, but it remains aligned with its original goals. The team increased the number of California places from five to seven and worked to add a strong human presence within a gallery previously devoted almost entirely to other species. Innovative reuse of OMCA's dioramas and habitat cases continues to be the project's core, but the team's approach has emphasized re-contextualizing rather than revising those exhibits. New elements include iconic artifacts and environments reflecting recent human impact on California, relevant objects from OMCA's art and history collections, digital visualizations of dynamic natural phenomena, and spaces for hands-on investigation. Community focused elements include multiple co-created exhibits and media programs offering inspiring encounters with Californians deeply involved in these seven places.