The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) contracted RK&A to explore visitors’ interest in and understanding of the design and interpretation presented in four conservatory rooms—Rare and Endangered Species, Plant Adaptations, Medicinal Plants, and Garden Primeval. Two rooms were quite small and the other two rooms were larger. Each room was designed to support a theme and included a variety of signage to support the theme (e.g., plant ID signs, ephemeral signs, thematic signs). Findings from this study will be used in part to inform a new interpretive strategy for the Garden. How did we
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) contracted RK&A to explore visitors’ interest in and understanding of proposed “Context Clues.” A Context Clue is an interpretive strategy that uses images, product samples or other objects, and interpretive text to assist visitors in connecting to the big idea: plants are important to people. How did we approach this study? The overall purpose of the evaluation was to determine how to best use Context Clues to communicate the relationship between plants and people. Therefore, RK&A interviewed 40 walk-in visitors who experienced three Context Clues in
NNOCCI is a collaborative effort led by the New England Aquarium with the Association for Zoos and Aquariums, the FrameWorks Institute, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Monterey Bay Aquarium, the New Knowledge Organization in partnership with Penn State University and the Ohio's Center for Science and Industry. With support from the National Science Foundation Climate Change Education Partnership program, NNOCCI's goal is to establish a national network of professionals who are skilled in communicating climate science to the American public.
This document is a “think piece” about why and how informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education institutions could be placing amusing, novel experiences in people’s paths to create memorable STEM experiences embedded in their everyday lives. The report focuses on what we learned about creating interactive STEM exhibits in public spaces outside of a science center. That said, the content can inform hands-on learning experiences on other topics, as well, within the limits outlined.