This evaluation reports on the Mission: Solar System project, a 2-year project funded by NASA. The goal of the Mission: Solar System was to create a collection of resources that integrates digital media with hands-on science and engineering activities to support kids’ exploration in formal and informal education settings. Our goal in creating the resources were: For youth: (1) Provide opportunities to use science, technology, engineering, and math to solve challenges related to exploring our solar system, (2) Build and hone critical thinking, problem-solving, and design process skills, (3)
EDC’s Center for Children and Technology (CCT), a nonprofit research and development organization (cct.edc.org), conducted the formative evaluation of the BAS project for the last three years. Iridescent has assisted CCT researchers in the successful implementation of the evaluation (e.g., organizing site visits and meetings with partners, administering surveys, collecting consent forms). As discussed in more details below, Iridescent has always taken seriously the evaluation findings and recommendations, and has acted upon them to make program improvements. This research partnership has led
The Center for Children and Technology (CCT) at Education Development Center, Inc., a nonprofit international research and development organization (cct.edc.org), conducted the formative evaluation of the second year’s implementation of the Be A Scientist! (BAS) project, which is managed by Iridescent—a nonprofit afterschool STEM program (www.iridescentlearning.org). The goal of the BAS project is to provide high-quality afterschool science and engineering courses to underserved families in New York City and Los Angeles. The program specifically targets second graders and their families
This report describes a summative evaluation of Secrets of Circles, a 2,600 square foot exhibition created by Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose and funded by the National Science Foundation. The exhibition and related programs were designed to highlight the uses of circles and wheels in everyday life. Circles have properties that make them extremely effective as an engineering tool, and they are ubiquitous in cultures around the world. The appendix of this report inclues interview and observation protocols and questionnaires used in this study.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sue AllenChildren's Discovery Museum of San Jose
Too Small to See is a 5,000 square-foot interactive traveling museum exhibition designed to provide hands-on nanotechnology science education to youth age 8 to 13 and adults. It debuted at Disney's Epcot and will reach over three million people during a five-year US tour. This evaluation examines the exhibition’s outcomes and impact on increasing visitors’ awareness of, interest in, engagement with, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. An overarching goal is to document the project’s contribution to the portfolio of federally funded Science Technology
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Douglas SpencerTina PhillipsTori AngelottiShane MurphyFred ConnerCornell University
This report presents findings from the evaluation of the Baseball Stories user generated content (UGC) project. The Baseball Stories project was created by the Information and Interactive Technology Department to allow people to share stories about their experiences with baseball for display in the Baseball As America traveling exhibition. As a part of the project, a website was created where people could create and post their stories and view other stories, and an exhibition kiosk was created where people could view their or others' stories or send an email to remind themselves to create a
Liberty Science Center (LSC) received National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to develop, install and evaluate a 12,800-square foot, two-story permanent exhibition about skyscrapers. Skyscraper! is meant to showcase the architectural design and engineering, physics, and urban-related environmental science of skyscrapers. The Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), a Maryland-based research and evaluation organization that focuses on lifelong learning in informal or free-choice settings, was contracted to conduct the summative exhibition evaluation. The purpose of the summative evaluation
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kerry BronnenkantLiberty Science CenterClaudia Figueiredo
This formative evaluation was conducted to see how the addition of an interactive media piece enhanced visitors' understanding of Nasturtium, a life sciences exhibit that demonstrates the water repelling properties of nasturtium leaves. The media piece allows the visitor to view leaf structures at progressively higher magnifications to better illustrate their scale and function. The interview questions used in this study are included in the appendix of this report.
This report documents two formative evaluations on an interactive media piece that allows its users to zoom in from a human hand to an atom. This zoom uses a spiral to connote zooming and is a departure from a more conventional zoom in which each successive image is a magnification of a portion of the preceding image. Interview protocols are included in the appendix of this report.
This report evaluates the nanotechnology-related presentations delivered at the Museum of Science, Boston, in an effort to more effectively educate the public. Interview questions used in this study are included in the appendix of this report.
A series of interview studies was conducted to determine how museum visitors interpret scale ladders that focus on the nanoscale. These studies look at different versions of an example scale ladder in order to: a.) Iteratively develop a scale ladder that may be used by other informal science institutions. b.) Formulate guidelines to inform the design and use of other scale ladders. Interview questions used for studies 1-3 are included in the appendix of this report.
This front-end study was conducted to gauge the visiting public’s interpretation of scientific images of the nanoscale. The interview questions used during this study are included in the appendix of this report.