The Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies (COVES) aims to help science centers gather and share data to better understand visitors’ experiences. For the summative evaluation of COVES, the Museum of Science’s Research and Evaluation Department studied the program’s impacts on participating museums and museum professionals. Specifically, this evaluation was designed to:
Examine participants’ overall satisfaction with the collaboration and their likelihood to recommend it to others;
Understand the impact that COVES is having on Participating Institutions;
Assess whether
Since the late 2000s, interest in the development and use of shared measures in the informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education (ISE) field has increased. The intent is to build the capacity of evaluators to measure common outcomes of ISE experiences. We begin this chapter with a definition of shared measures, a description of related technical qualities of these measures, and a discussion of benefits and concerns around the use of shared measures. We then review recent conversations and developments around shared measures, including examples of observational
With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) Museums for America program, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (Zoo) undertook a process of improving the interpretive experience of its Wings of the World exhibit, which concluded in summer 2018. The updated exhibition sought to enhance families’ connections to nature and inspire them to become better bird neighbors, in direct alignment with the Zoo’s strategic planning.
In collaboration with the Zoo, the Lifelong Learning Group (LLG) conducted formative and summative evaluation in spring and summer 2018. The
In its program, “Maximizing Lifelong Learning Opportunities: Innovative Strategies for Science Museums,” the American Museum of Natural History sought to develop, implement and assess a series of online and face-to-face adult learning courses, that shared the name “Our Earth’s Future” and focused on the topic of climate change. An external evaluation of this effort was conducted by Rockman et al, an independent evaluation firm that specializes in the evaluation of informal science learning programs. This research effort builds on prior knowledge gained from studies of adult learning programs
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer BorlandRuth CohenDebra TillingerMaria Janelli
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
‘What’s in a Name’ is a collaboration between Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, the Encyclopedia of Life and the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Its goal was to addresses three significant issues: improving public understanding of life on Earth through resources on how scientists describe biodiversity; furthering public understanding of the scientific process, as exemplified by the study of biological species; and creating ways to enable access to the vast amount of data available from museums and libraries. The primary audiences were museum visitors and online users; the materials were
With support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Wild Center (TWC) engaged Insight Evaluation Services (IES) to assess the impact of specific outreach activities of the Northern New York Maple Project between September 2013 and September 2015. Data for this two-year evaluation study were collected via in-depth telephone interviews conducted with a total of 25 participants, including 16 Tupper Tappers (Tupper Lake area residents who engaged in backyard tapping to provide sap for syrup production at the museum through the Community Maple Project), four local school teachers
Magnolia Consulting, LLC conducted a formative and summative evaluation to examine public perceptions of the utility and quality of two labs/exhibits within the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Natural World Investigate Lab, Biofuels and Science of Scent. Appendix includes survey.
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North Carolina State Museum of Natural ScienceMary Styers
This is an evaluation study of a new installation of interpretive signage and eight interactives in the Jungle Trails exhibition area of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. The summative evaluation is framed by the overall evaluation question: Does the Jungle Trails area facilitate learning through family interactions? To address this question, four broad sub-questions were determined as indicators of success of the project: 1. Do families engage with the interactives? 2. Do families perceive a difference in the way they interact in Jungle Trails? 3. Does the ‘family approach’ to signage
The Bronx Zoo of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) engaged Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. to conduct formative evaluation and community focus groups related to a proposed exhibit, "Safari Adventure." The aim with this exhibit is to provide better connections to nature for families in our community and foster a life-long sense of environmental stewardship. The exhibit concept was born of the issue that, today, there exists a greater need to connect people to nature than ever before, a topic especially relevant for our community—part of the largest urban population in the United States
This report summarizes the evaluation findings of the first year of the Science Beyond the Boundaries Early Learners Collaborative (ELC). The three-year project, funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), connects science centers and children’s museums to enhance early learner programming. In Year One, the ELC brought together five institutions to collaborate directly through regularly scheduled conference call discussions. During these discussions they shared their program experience, ideas on early childhood programs, and their thoughts on current early learner