Seeking to use narrative as a vehicle for getting more young people interested in STEM, the National Science Foundation supported a WETA/PBS NewsHour initiative to adapt their Student Reporting Labs (SRL) curriculum to feature a focus on STEM content in 2015. NewsHour selected Knology to run a four-year evaluation of the project from 2015 to 2019. Building on earlier research about student-led science journalism (e.g. Polman & Hope, 2014; Nicholas, 2017), this project suggests that having students develop and produce narratives about complex STEM topics may make these topics far less
The National Building Museum (NBM) contracted RK&A, Inc. to conduct a summative evaluation of the Why Engineering? distance learning program. The goal of the evaluation was to assess program operations and explore the extent to which the program achieved its intended outcomes for students and teachers.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A used three methodologies for the study: online program observations; student assessments administered immediately after the program; and telephone interviews with teachers. Observations were primarily used to gain a holistic understanding of how the
As part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for the In Defense of Food project directed by Kikim Media, the independent evaluation firm Knight Williams Inc.1 conducted a summative evaluation of the project’s key deliverables, which included: a PBS television broadcast program, an outreach effort, and an educational curriculum. This report (Study 3 of 3) considers the In Defense of Food curriculum and, in particular, educators’ reactions to the curriculum in terms of perceived appeal, ease of implementation, and learning value. Feedback was gathered from educators who were surveyed
Throughout the five year SciGirls CONNECT grant the independent evaluation firm Knight Williams assisted Twin Cities PBS (TPT) in a wide range of program evaluation activities. Given the project’s emphasis on a Train-the-Trainer model, the evaluation prioritized two goals: (i) assessing the various levels of CONNECT trainings from different vantage and time points, and (ii) capturing information on the implementation of SciGirls programs led by those who completed a training. This evaluation approach allowed the team to collect ongoing data over the course of the grant and share this
The Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Network) is a national infrastructure that links science museums and other informal science education organizations with nanoscale science and engineering research organizations. The Network’s overall goal is to foster public awareness, engagement, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. As part of the front-end effort, this report, Part IIB, documents 19 nanoscale STEM programming, media, and school-based projects that have been completed or are in development as of 2005.
The impact of four half-hour science programs aired on commercial children's radio was assessed by Dr. Barbara Flagg of Multimedia Research in a causal-comparative between-groups study with prebroadcast and postbroadcast questionnaires. Of 253 fourth graders, 34% listened to one or more shows of the Kinetic City Super Crew series. Significantly more girls listened than boys. Listeners and Non-listeners did not differ on background variables of ethnic status, science attitudes, science reading and television viewing, and participation in seven of eight common at-home science activities
The formative evaluation of Season 2 of Design Squad was performed in two parts. Part 1 included a field test conducted by American Institutes for Research in spring 2008. Part 2, conducted by Veridian inSight, included follow-up interviews with teachers whose classrooms participated in the field test. The teacher interviews were conducted in fall of 2008. This document is the Design Squad, Season 2 final evaluation report. It contains the following sections: Section 1: Highlights from the teacher interviews conducted in fall of 2008 by Veridian inSight. Section 2: Findings from the field test
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Veridian inSight, LLCAmerican Institutes for Research
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted a summative evaluation of the second season of NOVA scienceNOW, the PBS series that explores cutting-edge scientific and technological innovation in real time. (GRG also served as the external evaluator for NOVA scienceNOW during Season One). In addition to the television series, WGBH-TV developed a companion website, a series of high school classroom activities, and a Science Cafe outreach initiative, designed to discuss, in non-academic environments, the latest developments in science. The Season Two evaluation included: 1) a viewer study
This formative evaluation gathered feedback from teachers and their fourth grade children in response to two activities included in the Cyberchase Teachers' Guide. The user-based feedback will assist with the design of new school-based materials. The general goals for the research were to explore reactions to the guide; assess appeal and difficulties in implementation of two activities; estimate comprehension of activity content; and evaluate teacher interest in further activities. Cyberchase is the Emmy Award-winning mathematics series and website on PBS KIDS GO! using broadcast, web, new
Design Squad, produced by WGBH-Boston (http://www.wgbh.org), premiered on the Public Broadcasting Service in October 2009. Design Squad is a reality television series that encourages kids ages 9-12 years to “show off their smarts as they design and build working solutions for real-world clients—people who are hungry for clever ideas from a new generation of innovators.” Each season, the series culminates in a final episode when the top two scorers compete for a $10,000 college scholarship from the Intel Foundation. The underlying educational goals of Design Squad are to: (1) Increase students'
The Living on Earth's Ecological Literacy project (ELP) offers a comprehensive, flexible curricular framework that includes an integrated approach to field-based environmental studies, investigative journalism and computer-based radio production and engineering in middle and high school settings. The 2002-03 school year marked Year Three of the three-year, NSF-funded Ecological Literacy Project. Rockman et al, an educational research firm headquartered in San Francisco, conducted an independent evaluation of the ELP Year Two program activities (Char and Rockman, 2002), and continued evaluation
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Saul RockmanWorld Media FoundationCindy Char
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer received a three-year National Science Foundation grant from Fall 2003 to Spring 2006 to develop, produce and air science reports during the regularly televised news program. The Online NewsHour Web site extends the reach of the science reports by housing the broadcast transcripts of the science reports, as well as information, graphics, and links that enhance the televised segments. In addition, EXTRA, a feature within the Web site designed for teachers and students, provides lesson plans and resources to support the use of the science segments in the classroom
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Rockman et alMacNeil/Lehrer Productions