This report presents the findings of the summative evaluation of the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Big Back Yard (BBY), with a specific focus on Earthscapes Miniature Golf. Mary McEathron, Amy Grack, and Stacey Grimes, graduate students in the Evaluation Studies program at the University of Minnesota, carried out the evaluation during the summer of 2004. The purposes of the evaluation were to understand visitors’ experiences in the Big Back Yard and the quality of awareness or understanding acquired as a result of that experience. The evaluation was conducted to answer the following evaluation
Extensive research of the exhibit, Kachemak Bay, Alaska: An Exploration of People and Place shows it to be popular and effective with visitors on every communication and affective goal set forth in the Exhibit Master Plan. Research also finds that Community Collaborators who helped to create exhibit elements found the experience deeply meaningful and satisfying, meeting every desired cognitive, affective and behavioral outcome established for the collaboration programs. Pre- and post-test surveys of the exhibit involved nearly 600 visitors to the Pratt Museum. In most studies, Travelers and
The Materials Research Society (MRS) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate a traveling exhibition developed by the Ontario Science Center, funded by the National Science Foundation. The evaluation documents the impact and effectiveness of the traveling exhibition and its associated Web site using timing and tracking observations, exit interviews, peer review, and telephone interviews with Web site users and non-users a few weeks after their visit to the exhibition. How did we approach this study? worked with MRS to identify its goals and objectives for the exhibition
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Materials Research Society
Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) was contracted by the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) to evaluate Tissues of Life, an exhibition funded by the National Institutes of Health. Data collection took place at the SMM in July and August 2004. The evaluation documents the impact and effectiveness of the exhibition through timing and tracking observations and exit interviews.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Minnesota
SUMMARY The Peabody Museum at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate the Dinosaurs and More school tour. In the spring of 2004, RK&A surveyed second grade teacher and student samples, including: 27 pre-tour teacher questionnaires, 519 pre-tour student questionnaires, 24 post-tour teacher questionnaires, 412 post-tour student questionnaires. RK&A also conducted 21 teacher and 35 student interviews, and 3 classroom observations to document the impact and effectiveness of the Dinosaurs and More school tour.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Yale University
In 1998, the Exploratorium staff submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to develop a collection of life science exhibits "to offer science center visitors new ways to explore characteristics shared by all living things." The intention was to combine existing Exploratorium components as well as new exhibits and emphasize in the exhibit collection "that all life, no matter how diverse, shares common essential traits." This proposal was one of a series planned to develop permanent exhibits at the Exploratorium. The evaluation was intended to document several aspects of visitors'
This report presents the findings of a summative evaluation of Invention at Play, conducted by Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A), for the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Invention at Play is a traveling exhibition developed by the Lemelson Center in partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota and is funded by The Lemelson Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Data collection took place at two venues: in December 2002 at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.,
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Smithsonian Institution
In early 2004 Explorit Science Center (Explorit) contracted with Visitor Studies Services (VSS) to design and conduct an evaluation of Explorit's Health In Your World Project (HIYW). HIYW is a traveling, science-based health education program for children and adults in low-income communities. HIYW features interactive experiments designed to make learning about the human body, health, and healthy choices fun and accessible. The program serves students in grades K-6, and is designed to engage parents and involve them as an integral part of the learning process. The HIYW Project was developed in
This 6,000-square-foot temporary exhibition ran from March 2003 to January 2004 and was located in two galleries on the second floor, connected by a "bridge" across the atrium. The exhibition contained 55 elements grouped in six sections by sports venue and community settings: neighborhoods, Soldier Field, Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field, the Chicago Stadium/United Center, and school sports. The main message of the exhibition was, "In a city of strangers, sports brings people together." The 55 elements included two large video theaters (one in the south gallery, one in the north), four large wall
Nanoscale science and engineering study and create materials and devices on the molecular scale. The Nanobiotechnology Center, a National Science Foundation supported Science and Technology Center, collaborated with Ithaca, New York's Sciencenter, a hands-on museum, and Painted Universe, Inc. an exhibition design-and-fabrication team, to create It's a NanoWorld, a 3,000 square-foot, hands-on traveling exhibition. Edu, Inc., an external evaluation group, led front-end research and formative evaluation to guide and refine development of the exhibition. Summative evaluation investigated visitors'
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Douglas SpencerCornell UniversityVictoria AngelottiSciencenter
Robotics brings together learning across mechanism, computation and interaction using the compelling model of real-time interaction with physically instantiated intelligent devices. The project described here is the third stage of the Personal Rover Project, which aims to produce technology, curriculum and evaluation techniques for use with after-school, out-of-school and informal learning environments mediated by robotics. Our most recent work has resulted in the Personal Exploration Rover (PER), whose goal is to create and evaluate a robot interaction that will educate members of the general
This study is the first phase of a two-part summative evaluation of a National Science Foundation-funded research/development project to investigate the development of exhibits that elicit active prolonged engagement (APE) among casual museum visitors. Naturalistic methodology was used to frame the research. Methods included unobtrusive observations, depth interviews, and tracking-and-timing. Forty-six unobtrusive observations and 35 related depth interviews were conducted on site at the Exploratorium from August 5 through 10, 2003. After all observations/interviews had been completed