Beginning in September 2015, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) initiated the three-year project Latina SciGirls: Promoting Middle School-Age Hispanic Girls' Positive STEM Identity Development. The cornerstone of the project is a fourth season of the Emmy Award-winning television and transmedia project SciGirls, to premiere in 2017, in this case involving six half-hour SciGirls episodes filmed in Spanish showing groups of Hispanic girls and their Hispanic STEM mentors investigating science and engineering problems. The television
A three day TTT session was held in May 2015 at Twin Cities PBS in St. Paul, MN to train nine representatives from NGCP State Collaboratives in the SciGirls Seven and Citizen SciGirls project materials (episodes, activities). NGCP chose the nine leaders (from nine states) through an application process specifically targeting regions who had not previously received training on SciGirls research-based strategies. These trainers were then expected to hold two training sessions with up to 30 educators at each session between fall of 2015 and fall of 2016. Fourteen sessions were held reaching
The independent evaluation team subsequently undertook a formative evaluation to provide the production team with feedback on issues that arose from the front-end evaluation findings and from tpt’s early production work on the first Season Four episode and STEM role model videos.
The purpose of this report is to summarize the findings from the Years 6-10 (2010-2015) Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) summative evaluation studies and to discuss factors that contributed to the achievement of NISE Net’s goals. The report centers on summative evaluation findings, while also including major project output data and corroborating findings from the Years 6-10 NISE Net research studies. By synthesizing findings across studies, this summary evaluation report provides a high-level description of the cross-cutting and integrated knowledge generation efforts
In 2012, the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an exhibition utilizing objects from the former Museum of Questionable Medical Devices (QMDs), contextualizing them in the greater conversation about scientific skepticism and how people make healthcare decisions. The resulting exhibition, Weighing the Evidence, opened in December 2015. This kt, object-based exhibition is organized into four islands of artifacts with accompanying information and hands-on “Try It” interactives, which allow visitors to experience some
The Concord Museum contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a front-end evaluation of its current permanent exhibition gallery—Why Concord?—in preparation for a comprehensive reinterpretation and reinstallation of the museum’s permanent collections funded by an IMLS grant. The goal of the evaluation was to understand the current visitor experience in Why Concord? and to explore visitors’ responses to several ideas the museum is considering for the updated exhibition. Specifically, the evaluation explored the extent to which visitors find history relevant (in general, in the
DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL (DSG) is a web-based, mobile-accessible digital hub and outreach initiative that creates new opportunities to empower middle school youth to solve real-world problems and understand the impact of engineering in a global context. The project builds on the Design Squad model for engineering education (including a television show and website). The ultimate goals of Design Squad Global are to: (1) develop innovative ways to incorporate effective engineering education into informal learning environments; (2) inform the field about promising practices in cross-cultural
The San Diego Natural History Museum (theNAT) contracted RK&A to conduct a summative evaluation of the exhibition Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science and to explore how well the exhibition communicates an inclusive view of science. The goals for the evaluation were to explore visitors’ behaviors in the exhibition as well as understand what meanings visitors made from the exhibition, particularly with regard to how the exhibition’s messages about citizen science are resonating in the context of visitors’ science identity.
RK&A conducted timing and tracking
Ciencia Pública is a National Science Foundation (NSF) -funded initiative in which the Exploratorium, in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco (BGCSF), developed a parklet to engage Latino families in STEM content. The Parklet is located in San Francisco’s Mission District (the Mission), a historically Latino neighborhood. Buena Vista Horace Mann School (BVHM) is an additional project partner and hosts the Parklet on its site. Garibay Group conducted a summative evaluation of the project outcomes. This report discusses evaluation findings.
In 2016, more than 120 National Park Service (NPS) units conducted BioBlitzes, supported by a collaboration between The National Geographic Society and the National Park Service. The Lawrence Hall of Science conducted an evaluation of participant and park outcomes at the cornerstone BioBlitz throughout the National Capital region, at the large (regional) Showcase BioBlitzes, and at additional events at National Parks across the US. The report includes a description of the evaluation project, case studies from 3 BioBlitzes, findings, recommendations, and the instruments used to measure
From 2014-2016, Pacific Science Center continued and expanded the Science Technology Engineering and Math Out-of-School-Time (STEM-OST) program with the purpose of delivering programs to stem the summer learning loss. Specifically, the project expanded to new venues in the Puget Sound (Washington) region; modified the lessons and activities so they also served students in grades K-2; aligned the curriculum with the Next Generation Science Standards (recently adopted by the Washington State Legislature) and increased the number of Family Science Days and Family Science Workshops offered to
From 2013-2016, Pacific Science Center, implemented the Exploring Earth Systems Sciences (EESS) project with the purpose of developing and delivering scripted demonstrations utilizing the Science On a Sphere (SOS) technology in order to promote understanding of and increase interest in Earth systems sciences. Specifically, the grant allowed the Science Interpretation team to research and write 20-minute presentations, targeted towards visitors aged 11 and older, about nine unique topics such as: climate change, weather, seasons, or the Polar Regions. Staff were then provided training in