The goal of this evaluation was to determine how museum visitors responded to the museum's existing live animal exhibits and identify recommendations for their new Live Animal Garden exhibit.
Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Access from the Ground Up project at the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo (JMZ) seeks to better serve children with disabilities through a combination of partnerships with community, staff professional development and training, and the development of accessible STEM-focused exhibits and resources at the new JMZ facility, which opened in November 2021. This summative evaluation report seeks to answer the following evaluation questions:
To what extent does the Access from the Ground Up project build or strengthen relationships with
The Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts is one of the world’s largest science centers and the most visited cultural institution in New England. Located in Science Park, a piece of land that spans the Charles River, the museum is conveniently situated close to Boston and Cambridge. The museum has more than 700 interactive exhibits and a number of live presentations offered daily. One of these daily shows include live animal presentations, where museum visitors can learn more about some of the many animals that the museum cares for in its live animal center. An evaluation of these live
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sarah RosenthalKristina OhlSadia Sehrish IslamMaría José Brito Páez
Although approximately one-quarter of U.S. students reside in rural communities, rural youth are fifty percent less likely to receive and engage in out-of-school STEM experiences than their urban counterparts. In addition, there has been significantly more investment in understanding and improving informal experiences in urban settings than in rural settings. As a result, there is less known about the characteristics of learning ecosystems and programs that support STEM learning for youth in informal contexts within rural communities. This Research in Service to Practice project aims to address this challenge by exploring the feasibility of a culturally relevant and sustaining STEM program designed specifically for rural youth and their families. Parents and caregivers play a critical role in fostering youths’ interests and persistence in STEM through their own engagement and by connecting them to STEM opportunities and STEM-related fields and career pathways. Through a partnership between the High Desert Museum in Oregon, the Institute for Learning Innovation, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, JKS Consulting, and three informal science education institutions, a year-long series of STEM-based workshops and experiences for youth and their families will be co-designed by members of the rural community, informal STEM educators, and STEM professionals and implemented within the rural communities of the participating informal science education institutions—Caddo Mounds State Historic Site Weeping Mary (TX), High Desert Museum (OR), Oregon Coast Aquarium, and The Wild Center (NY). Each series will reflect the cultural knowledge, connections, and resources specific to each rural community. In addition, the informal STEM educators and STEM professionals will receive training on facilitating the culturally sustaining workshops and experiences. Researchers at the Institution for Learning Innovation and the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance together with the evaluator at JKS Consulting will employ a collaborative design-based research approach to identify and study the STEM learning practices and supports that occur within the program to promote youths’ interests and persistence in STEM. The findings will offer evidence-based insights to the field on how to better engage, reflect, and provide opportunities for diverse rural communities. Ultimately, this research has the potential to advance the current understanding thereby, strengthening rural STEM learning ecosystems and broadening STEM participation among youth in rural communities.
Over a four-year project duration, a collaborative design-based research approach will be employed to address the following research questions: (1) How does culturally sustaining informal STEM programming for families in rural communities contribute to increases in youth STEM persistence? (1a) How might this vary in relation to family and community factors? (2) How does culturally sustaining informal family STEM programming increase community connectivity between STEM-related resources and institutions across informal and formal learning contexts in rural communities leading to a more robust and inclusive STEM learning ecosystem? (2a) To what extent do participating families, informal STEM educators, STEM professionals, and community partners each play a role in increasing this connectivity? The research sample will include 300 families with youth ages 8-11, informal science educators, and STEM professionals across all four sites. Surveys, interviews and observations will be the primary data sources. Analysis of Variance and simple descriptive statistical analysis will be used to analyze the quantitative data. The qualitative data will be analyzed using thematic coding through NVivo. In addition, to complement the research data, JKS Consulting will conduct the formative and summative evaluations of the project to hone effective practices for training informal science learning practitioners in developing and implementing place-based, inquiry-based family learning in rural communities and effective and sustainable practices for engaging rural families in place-based STEM. Findings from the research will be made available and widely distributed in publications, conference presentations, and a multi-part Research to Practice Toolkit designed for parents and caregivers, informal science educators, STEM professionals, and the informal education field at large.
This Research in Service to Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program.
By first recognizing the valuable social and scientific practices taking place within families as they learn science together across multiple, everyday settings, this dissertation addresses questions of how to design and scaffold activities that build and expand on those practices to foster a deep understanding of science, and how the aesthetic experience of learning science builds connections across educational settings. Families were invited to visit a natural history museum, an aquarium, and a place or activity of the family’s choice that they associated with science learning. Some families
The Signing Glossaries are six new apps researched and developed for families with at least one member who is deaf and hard of hearing. Each glossary provides access to thousands of signed terms and definitions encountered in visits to aquariums, botanical gardens, natural history museums, nature centers, science museums, and zoos.
Deaf and hard of hearing children typically have literacy levels that lag behind those of their hearing peers, making access to captions, labels, instructions, and information difficult. This, in combination with a lack of interpreters to sign material for them
This project had three objectives to build knowledge with respect to advancing Informal STEM Education:
Plan, prototype, fabricate, and document a game-linked design-and-play STEM exhibit for multi-generational adult-child interaction utilizing an iterative exhibit design approach based on research and best practices in the field;
Develop and disseminate resources and models for collaborative play-based exhibits to the informal STEM learning community of practice of small and mid-size museums including an interactive, tangible tabletop design-and-play game and a related tablet-based game app for skateboarding science and technology design practice;
Conduct research on linkages between adult-child interactions and game-connected play with models in informal STEM learning environments.
Linked to these objectives were three project goals:
Develop tools to enable children ages 5-8 to collaboratively refine and test their own theories about motion by exploring fundamental science concepts in linked game and physical-object design challenge which integrates science (Newton’s Laws of Motion) with engineering (iterative design and testing), technology (computational models), and mathematics (predictions and comparisons of speed, distance, and height). [Linked to Objectives 1 & 3]
Advance the informal STEM education field’s understanding of design frameworks that integrate game environments and physical exhibit elements using tangibles and playful computational modeling and build upon the “Dimensions of Success” established STEM evaluation models. [Linked to Objectives 1 & 2]
Examine methods to strengthen collaborative learning within diverse families through opportunities to engage in STEM problem-based inquiry and examine how advance training for parents influences the extent of STEM content in conversations and the quality of interactions between caregivers and children in the museum setting. [Linked to Objectives 1 & 3]
The exhibit designed and created as a result of this grant project integrates skateboarding and STEM in an engaging context for youth ages 5 to 8 to learn about Newton’s Laws of Motion and connect traditionally underserved youth from rural and minority areas through comprehensive outreach. The exhibit design process drew upon research in the learning sciences and game design, science inquiry and exhibit design, and child development scholarship on engagement and interaction in adult-child dyads.
Overall, the project "Understanding Physics through Collaborative Design and Play: Integrating Skateboarding with STEM in a Digital and Physical Game-Based Children’s Museum Exhibit" accomplished three primary goals. First, we planned, prototyped, fabricated, and evaluated a game-linked design-and-play STEM gallery presented as a skatepark with related exhibits for adult-child interaction in a Children's Museum.
Second, we engaged in a range of community outreach and engagement activities for children traditionally underserved in Museums. We developed and disseminated resources for children to learn about the physics of the skatepark exhibit without visiting the Museum physically. For example, balance board activities were made portable, the skatepark video game was produced in app and web access formats, and ramps were created from block sets brought to off-site locations.
Third, we conducted a range of research to better understand adult-child interactions in the skatepark exhibit in the Children's Museum and to explore learning of physics concepts during physical and digital play. Our research findings collectively provide a new model for Children's Museum exhibit developers and the informal STEM education community to intentionally design, evaluate, and revise exhibit set-up, materials, and outcomes using a tool called "Dimensions of Success (DOS) for Children's Museum Exhibits." Research also produced a tool for monitoring the movement of children and families in Museum exhibit space, including time on task with exhibits, group constellation, transition time, and time in gallery. Several studies about adult-child interactions during digital STEM and traditional pretend play in the Museum produced findings about social positioning, interaction style, role, and affect during play.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Deb DunkhaseKristen MissallBenjamin DeVane
To inform development of the Curious by Nature exhibit and related programs, staff at the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo (JMZ) wants to hear from parents. Staff are especially interested in the experience of families with children who have special needs. In recent years the JMZ has developed an audience in this community of often close-knit friends and organizations. JMZ is also part of a successful collaboration with Abilities United and PACE (Pacific Autism Center for Education) in which disabled adults volunteer in the Zoo on a weekly basis. The institution’s intimate nature, good design and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Wendy MeluchPalo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo
The Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo (JMZ) is working to create an accessible facility from the ground up as they plan for a new building, zoo habitats, and exhibits. During construction of the new JMZ the institution will occupy a temporary space in Palo Alto. The new JMZ is scheduled to open in 2019.
To inform their planning process, Tina Keegan, Exhibits Director at JMZ, contracted with Wendy Meluch of Visitor Studies Services (the evaluator) to conduct community conversation with two groups of parents on site at the Museum. Staff reached out to JMZ members and visitors, and local
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Wendy MeluchPalo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo
The Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo offers a satisfying mix of interactive exhibit experiences, close-up animal viewing, and a warm, welcoming staff in a small-scale setting which makes it easily manageable for families with special needs. In recent years the JMZ has attracted and embraced this audience of often close-knit friends and organizations. In addition to an ongoing dialog with visitors at the institution, on multiple occasions JMZ has invited families to participate in community conversations to share their perspectives, experiences and suggestions.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Wendy MeluchPalo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo
The University of California, Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC), UC Davis W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES), ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center (ECHO), UC Berkeley Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), and the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) will study how 3-D visualizations can most effectively be used to improve general public understanding of freshwater lake ecosystems and Earth science processes through the use of immersive three-dimensional (3-D) visualizations of lake and watershed processes, supplemented by tabletop science activity stations. Two iconic lakes will be the focus of this study: Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada, and Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York, with products readily transferable to other freshwater systems and education venues. The PI will aggregate and share knowledge about how to effectively utilize 3-D technologies and scientific data to support learning from immersive 3-D visualizations, and how other hands-on materials can be combined to most effectively support visitor learning about physical, biological and geochemical processes and systems. The project will be structured to iteratively test, design, and implement 3-D visualizations in both concurrent and staggered development. The public will be engaged in the science behind water quality and ecosystem health; lake formation; lake foodwebs; weather and climate; and the role and impact of people on the ecosystem. A suite of publicly available learning resources will be designed and developed on freshwater ecosystems, including immersive 3-D visualizations; portable science stations with multimedia; a facilitator's guide for docent training; and a Developer's Manual to allow future informal science education venues. Project partners are organized into five teams: 1) Content Preparation and Review: prepare and author content including writing of storyboards, narratives, and activities; 2) 3-D Scientific Visualizations: create visualization products using spatial data; 3) Science Station: plan, design, and produce hands-on materials; 4) Website and Multimedia: produce a dissemination strategy for professional and public audiences; 4) Evaluation: conduct front-end, formative, and summative evaluation of both the 3-D visualizations and science activity stations. The summative evaluation will utilize a mixed methods approach, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, and will include focus groups, semi-structured interviews, web surveys, and in-depth interviews. Leveraging 3-D tools, high-quality visual displays, hands-on activities, and multimedia resources, university-based scientists will work collaboratively with informal science education professionals to extend the project's reach and impact to an audience of 400,000 visitors, including families, youth, school field trip groups, and tourists. The project will implement, evaluate, and disseminate knowledge of how 3-D visualizations and technologies can be designed and configured to effectively support visitor engagement and learning about physical, biological and geochemical processes and systems, and will evaluate how these technologies can be transferred more broadly to other informal science venues and schools for future career and workforce development in these critical STEM areas.
On June 20-22, 2008, the Philadelphia/Camden Informal Science Education Collaborative (PISEC) conducted the Bridges Conference for museum/community partnership programs that serve families. The conference was funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (DRL# 0734835), which covered planning, implementation, evaluation and dissemination. The Bridges Conference was designed to bring together professionals involved with long-term museum/community relationships, and to offer opportunities to share and develop new strategies to (1) address practical issues inherent in funding, developing