This report summarizes a front-end evaluation of visitors' interest in and knowledge about invasive species. The evaluation was done to inform the Florida Aquarium (FLAQ) exhibit team about visitors' entry-level understanding of the concept, to give the team ideas for ways to connect with visitors' interests in the topic, and to communicate the exhibition's big idea: Invasive species have changed Florida ecologically and economically. The report includes highlights of the findings from interviews conducted on Nov. 8, 2001. Numbers are derived from a handtally of most of the data. (Not included
This report presents findings from a summative evaluation of Go Figure! conducted by Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) for the Minnesota Children's Museum (MCM). Go Figure! is a traveling exhibition that is visiting both libraries and children's museums across the country. The exhibition was developed by the Minnesota Children's Museum in collaboration with the American Library Association through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and is intended to engage children two through seven years and their parents in exploring math through hands-on, book-based math
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Minnesota Children's Museum
Marvelous Molecules: The Secret of Life is a 3,500-square-foot exhibition installed on the lower exhibit floor of the New York Hall of Science (NYHoS) between Hidden Kingdoms and Realm of the Atom. The 27 exhibit elements are grouped in sections that feature molecules for sensing, moving, reproduction, defending, and other biological functions. The big idea of the exhibition is: Inside what appear to be very different living things, molecules interact in similar ways to make things happen. In Spring 2001, a summative evaluation of Marvelous Molecules was conducted by Serrell & Associates
The Parents Involved/Pigeons Everywhere (PIPE) project is a collaboration between KCTE-Community Television of Southern California, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. They are developing a three-year model project to engage parents in science education with their children through Project PigeonWatch, a citizen-science program run by Cornell University. The PIPE project will develop videos and written materials for use in a series of parent workshops designed for libraries and community science centers. The materials and workshops will be targeted to low-income parents with children in grades three through five and will be tested at 27 pilot sites around the country. A PIPE leader's Web Site will link all of the pilot sites. At the end of the pilot stage, the video and print materials will be widely available and the applicants will produce a publication that indicates strategies for using and building on PIPE and will provide assistance to new sites that wish to implement the program.
With a Small Grant for Exploratory Research, we will identify and measure the properties of spatial layout that affect visitors' exploration and exposure to information in science museum exhibitions. It is the nature of museum learning that it is associated with movement in space. The ways in which displays are arranged in spatial sequences, the ability to simultaneously view different objects, the grouping of objects in space, the rate of change in directions, the relative distance between one display and another, all become powerful aspects of the presentation of knowledge that are far more important in the museum than they are in any other learning environment. This study will apply new techniques for spatial analysis to provide rigorous, quantitative descriptions of spatial layout. These descriptors will then be used to understand how layout affects visitor movement patterns in exhibitions.
The Institute for Research on Learning is undertaking a multifaceted effort to help parents become more involved in the mathematics education of their children. This project establishes a Design Consortium; develops new materials and collaborative activity structures; provides outreach, training, and technical assistance to communities; and disseminates these products to the educational community. The design consortium creates contexts for raising parent participation in communities where it is most needed and uses these contexts to plan and construct mathematics materials based on issues parents face in everyday life. The outreach activities include planning support and workshops for schools, community organizations, and parent groups. Dissemination is done through presentations and talks and through research articles.
The project includes a simulation based Family Learning Program to be administered through the International Challenger Learning Center (CLC) network. The goal is to develop families' skills in learning as a team through science, math and technology (SMT) in an environment where parents and children are co-travelers in a world of ideas. PACCT is disseminated through ten of the Challenger Learning Centers reaching 22,000 families nationwide. Many of these activities are completed in the home at no cost to the anticipated 12,500 participating families. Through this network of centers, all types of communities are served in many states. The activities include Sim-U-Voyages, where family teams work at home; Sim-U-Challenges, where families create a physical model responding to a challenge; Sim-U-Visits, where families hear from scientists and work as scientists in a team solving a problem; and Sim-U-Ventures, which result in flying a mission. Cost sharing is 8%.
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Linda MorrisJan Anstatt
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC is planning and coordinating a visit by Chinese delegates to designated United States Science Museums toward identifying cooperative endeavors related to public understanding of science. Planning also will be done for a separate delegation of informal educators from Japan. Discovery Place will work with the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to assist in planning and arranging portions of each delegation's visit in order to help science center professionals from all three countries meet and learn more about each other's institutions, programs and priorities. Through this networking, U.S. institutions will be encouraged to participate in exchanges and cooperative projects. The meetings also will help all sides identify potential partners and develop the relationships necessary to pursue joint activities such as staff exchanges, cooperative development of exhibits and programs and design of workshops. Specific planning activities to be undertaken by Discovery Place include: Identifying appropriate museum and media production sites for the Chinese delegation to visit; Coordinating the purposes of the visit with these sites; Working with The Institute of Pacific Asia (IPA is the NSF grantee that is handling the administrative aspects of the Chinese and Japanese visits) to develop a specific agenda for each site visit; Coordinating with ASTC to arrange such activities as: Presentations by members of the Chinese and Japanese delegation in ASTC conference sessions, Participation by members of the Chinese and Japanese delegations in ASTC conference events and sessions, and Assisting IPA in developing an agenda for a one-day US/China delegation meeting immediately following the conference. This project provides rare opportunities for informal science educators and policy makers to explore a wide range of program options for the United States, China and Japan to inform the public and build support for science.
The Minnesota Children's Museum, in collaboration with the American Library Association will develop a project to engage children ages two through seven years old and their parents in exploring mathematics through hands-on, book-based math activities in libraries and children's museums across the country. The main elements of the project are: 1. A 1200 square foot exhibit at the Minnesota Children's Museum; 2. A traveling exhibit to ten children's museums over a six month period; 3. Five smaller versions of the exhibit will travel to 75 libraries sponsored by the American Library Association. Each library that apply for the exhibit must present a plan in which 50 percent of their exhibit audience will be children and families of the under-represented, lower income groups, and racial and/or ethnic groups. 4. Programs and materials will be designed to provide parents with the means to actively participate in their children's math education. The collaboration of the Minnesota Children's Museum and the American Library Association draws together two organizations whose natural constituencies are parents with young children. Project 1,2,3 is designed to be national in scope and creates multiple formats within which families can enjoy exploring math. Its goals and objectives reflect four messages: start early, math is everywhere, parental involvement and get into books. The project Principal Investigator (PI) Ms. Jeanne W. Vergeront received her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Science in Child and Family Studies and Environmental Design, respectively from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Currently, she serves as the Vice President, Educational Projects at the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In several primarily Hispanic, low socio-economic school districts of the southwest in partnership with local institutions of higher learning, this 48-month project will develop programs and materials to attract parents of children of all grade levels and make them active supporters of a system that promotes good mathematical learning for their children. These programs and materials will help them become aware of what is happening in their children's classroom; offer them occasions to take on leadership roles in working with teachers, administrators, and other parents; and provide them opportunities for in-depth experiences with school mathematics. The materials will be initially developed and piloted in the Sunnyside School District. After revision from the pilot project, the project will be implemented in several other school districts.
The California State University, Los Angeles (CSLA) ACCESS Center [consortium] requests $216,949 to pilot a collaborative with the Los Angeles County Department of Community and Senior Services Community Centers and several community-based organizations to provide informal science experiences to underserved 11-14 years old youth and their families. The pilot will engage families in hands-on science activities, participate in community-based science clubs, and provide opportunities for leadership roles by enhancing their interest and knowledge in science, mathematics and technology. California State University Los Angeles (CSLA) School of Natural and Social Sciences, Charter School of Education, School of Health and Human Services' Social Work Department, and ACCESS Center's partners for this pilot project include he following organizations: Girls, Incorporated, of Los Angeles (Girls, Inc) Con Los Padres Grandma's House Los Angeles Unified Districts Division of Adult and Career Education The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) The California Science Center
This project is a collaboration between the Miami Museum of Science and the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Miami (BBBS) to empower single-parent families to become actively engaged in the science, mathematics, and technology education (SMT) of their children. It will involve, over the course of the project, parents, mentors, and community elements to create and expand a resource network and support primarily father-absent homes. The design of the project is focused on providing resources and advocacy critical to the success of young children in SMT education. It is a project designed to get parents actively involved with their children's science, mathematics, and technology education. The program will serve Dade County, Florida families. Museum staff and volunteers of BBBS will work closely in the development of mentor materials to be nationally distributed. The strategies that are used and refined will be packaged in a Tripod Toolkit and Mentor Handbook that can be used by other community groups to aid and assist parents in becoming more active in the science, mathematics, and technology education of their children. In addition to the toolkit materials, a set of Science/math Matters activities will be included designed to promoted science learning in the home with parents and their children. These materials will be produced in both English and Spanish to meet the needs of a diverse and multicultural American society.