The education research component of the Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC) seeks to determine how the PSC experience affects the science identity and STEM career intentions of its participants and how individual programmatic elements influence persistence. These questions are investigated by comparing pre-‐survey and post-‐survey results and by examining the participant’s interaction with the PSC online portal.
This report d pre/posistilled t survey data that examines student participants’ STEM intentions along a number of dimensions: Science/Engineering Identity, Self-‐Efficacy, Science
This report presents findings from the evaluation of four Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC) activities: online training, use of website, capstone events at hub institutions, and the PSC summer camp.
The Museum of Science, Boston led the From Project Mercury to Planet Mars: Introducing Engineering and Inspiring Youth through Humanity’s Greatest Adventure project (FPMPM) as a way to produce and share high-quality informal engineering education opportunities about the topic of human space travel to Mars. The grant involved the creation of two products that address human space travel to Mars: an immersive full-dome planetarium show and a hands-on engineering design challenge. To evaluate the grant work, the Research & Evaluation Department at the Museum of Science, Boston conducted a
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Annette SawyerKatie ToddLeigh Ann MesitiAlex LussenhopKeith Allison
This is the summative evaluation for the My Sky Tonight: Early Childhood Pathways to Astronomy is a National Science Foundation funded Full-Scale Development project that was designed to support informal science education practitioner’s ability to provide astronomy learning for young children ages 3-5 years. Based on prior research and assessment of the field, the project team identified that many informal educators lack the astronomy content, interpretive strategies, and confidence they need to effectively engage audiences of families with preschool-aged children. Three mechanisms were
In 2014 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a Competitive Program for Science Museums, Planetariums and NASA Visitor Centers Plus Other Opportunities grant to Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) called From Our Town to Outer Space (FOTOS). The three-year grant brought STEM learning experiences around NASA disciplines to six public libraries through a traveling exhibit called Discover NASA, associated programming for library patrons, training, resources, and a virtual community of practice for library staff and others who
Exploration Place, with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), contracted RK&A to conduct a summative evaluation of Design Build Fly, an exhibition and program series that explores what happens behind-the-scenes in Wichita’s aircraft plants. The goals of the study were to identify how visitors use the exhibition, explore what meaning visitors make from Design Build Fly, and understand to what extent visitors’ meaning-making aligns with intended outcomes.
How did we approach this study? RK&A conducted timing and tracking observations of visitors to the