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.
This study addressed the questions of whether or not the IMAX/OMNIMAX film "Tropical Rainforest" contributes to a positive attitude towards, and and increase in knowledge about, the tropical rain forests of the world. Results indicate that there are statistically significant increases in knowledge gained as well as an increase in positive attitudes towards the tropical rain forests. All three specific audiences (grades 1-6; grades 7-12; adult general) tended to increase overall.
This report summarizes the evaluation results from the NSF funded Eight-Legged Encounters family event that uses arachnids as a hook to draw public interests towards science. The event involves informative and hands-on activities that bridge the gap between academia and the public, extending knowledge about arachnids to children and their parents. The Bureau of Sociological Research (BOSR) at UNL was contracted to evaluate Eight-Legged Encounters. The data collection for this report involves five events and three audiences: adults, children, and the volunteers of the event. Two events were
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TEAM MEMBERS:
University of Nebraska LincolnEileen Hebets
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) MinnAqua program educates the state's youth about angling and aquatic resources. In 2001, MinnAqua developed a Leaders' Guide so educators could carryout MinnAqua activities in their own setting. As part of the development process, a formative evaluation was undertaken to answer the questions: (a) To what extent are MinnAqua's rewrite guidelines addressed in individual lessons and the Leaders' Guide as a whole?, and (b) To what extent does the Leaders' Guide meet the educational needs of intended users in both formal and informal
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amy Grack NelsonMinnesota Department of Natural Resources
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted summative evaluation of the Journey to Planet Earth: The State of the Ocean's Animals project. GRG has served as external evaluator for Journey to Planet Earth since 1999. Journey to Planet Earth is a PBS series that explores the fragile relationship between people and the world they inhabit. The most recent evaluation included two components: 1) a viewer study of the Ocean's Animals episode in the series (hosted and narrated by Matt Damon), and 2) an evaluation of the outreach initiative that complemented the series. The broad goal of the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marianne McPhersonElizabeth BachrachIrene F GoodmanScreenscope, Inc.American Association for the Advancement of Science
What motivates kids to take multiple programs at the Minnesota Zoo? What makes Minnesota Zoo programs so comfortable and engaging that some kids just keep coming back? How do these experiences support kids’ interest in animals and wildlife conservation? The Minnesota Zoo (MN Zoo) offers over a dozen educational programs for youth tailored to encourage exploration of “what makes the MN Zoo tick.” After 10 years of programming for hundreds of youth, a cluster of youth return again and again to learn more about animal care, wild wildlife conservation, zoo work, and volunteer opportunities
In October 2009, the Tennessee Aquarium began an ambitious program, Connecting Tennessee to the World Ocean (CTWO), funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CTWO consists of several individual projects, all intended to increase the ocean literacy of Aquarium audiences and to promote their adoption of an ocean stewardship ethic. This evaluation report summarizes the extent to which the Aquarium accomplished these goals over the 3-year project period. The five project components and their key associated evaluation findings follow. 1. Classroom-based activities
The Lost Ladybug Project is a citizen science project which, since its inception in 2008, has received contributions of over 13,000 images of ladybug specimens from citizen scientists in North America. Audiences impacted included adult participants (without children), families, and youth (5-12 years old) participating within classrooms or out-of-school groups. Summative evaluation, conducted in 2011, was guided by the following questions: -To what extent has the program achieved its intended science learning impacts? -How are learning outcomes different for different types of participants?
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jessica SicklerTammy Messick CherryCornell University
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is partnering with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under the renewed National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. An SCRT program website is under development with program information and a social networking page
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry
During Fall 2008, the Science Museum of Minnesota's outreach staff visited schools throughout northern Minnesota to deliver the Energy Connections program. A summative evaluation was carried out to gauge the impact the program had on students' understanding of three of the program's key learning goals. As a result of participating in the Energy Connections program, students will learn that electrical energy can be generated from a variety of sources, which can be either renewable or non-renewable, and can have different environmental consequences/impact. People influence what decisions are
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amy Grack NelsonClaire PhilippeScience Museum of Minnesota
MinnAqua, a program of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource's Division of Fish and Wildlife, strives to educate Minnesota's youth about angling and aquatics and increase their interest and participation in angling. A summative evaluation was carried out to examine the effectiveness of MinnAqua clinics in terms of two evaluation questions: (a) To what extent are MinnAqua clinics meeting their goals? and (b) To what extent does participation in MinnAqua clinics increase children's knowledge of angling and aquatic resources as identified by the MinnAqua key concepts? To answer these
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amy Grack NelsonMinnesota Department of Natural Resources
In October 2009, the Tennessee Aquarium began an ambitious program, Connecting Tennessee to the World Ocean (CTWO), funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CTWO consists of several individual projects, all intended to increase the ocean literacy of Aquarium audiences and to promote their adoption of an ocean stewardship ethic. This formative evaluation report summarizes the extent to which the Aquarium has made progress toward these goals in the first year of the project and provides an information base for identifying opportunities to strengthen