We examined an approach to reaching audiences who may not ordinarily engage with science. Termed Guerilla Science, this approach blends elements of access, by removing barriers to participation by embedding science into unexpected places, with those of inclusion, by designing activities that speak to the learning identities of participants.
NSF generously funded the Science Museum of Minnesota's exploration of whether or not the "theatrical gaming" technique could improve visitors' understanding of complex topics requiring conceptual shifts--topics like evolution. COVID disrupted our formal evaluation plans, but this report offers finding and guidance/best practices for other informal education institutions interested in developing this type of experience. Individual sections discuss our particular, three-phased project, theatrical gaming as a technique, storytelling, gaming, technology, and evaluation.
It’s a great job when you get to do stuff just for fun. For the last few days, I’ve been at the Science Museum of Minnesota, consulting on their new exhibit? Theatrical performance? Interactive game? called Infestation: The Evolution Begins. It’s a 3-part project funded by NSF to help teach key concepts of evolution to kids, and it’s looking pretty amazing.The first part is done, and it’s a theatrical event where the concepts are explained entertainingly, and the audience are introduced to little imaginary creatures called VISTAs. If you go to SMM today, you can watch the whole show yourself
This was the poster displayed at the NSF AISL PI Conference in Alexandria, VA, in February of 2019.
Other materials included draft scripts, suggested findings, and VISTA props and stickers that are part of the game/show.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. The project will use a design-based research process to research and develop an innovative theatrical game that will improve visitors' understanding of complex topics requiring conceptual change. This project will research a novel experience that helps visitors engage with difficult content in informal science education venues, uses existing exhibit and collection assets in a new way, and creates a venue for visitor engagement that requires less capitalization than a full exhibition project. For the public, this project will blend best practices from exhibit development, museum theater, and facilitation with emerging theories about game-based learning to create a novel experience that deeply engages visitors with an evolution storyline and allows them to explore the museum and interact with one another in new ways. For the field, the project will examine how theatrical games can be valuable, viable experiences in museum environments and what game mechanics and supports contribute to players' conceptual thinking. While the project's games with theatrical elements will focus on evolution, the tested strategies will provide valuable information about effective approaches for informal STEM education more broadly wherever audiences exhibit major misconceptions or discomfort with scientific ideas. The project will disseminate findings through conferences and workshops, academic reports, a research-to-practice implementation guide, and a training video about best practices for engaging the public in theatrical gaming.
The project will focus on the creation and modification of a theoretical framework that describes the content, program format, and degree of facilitation necessary to create experiences that support conceptual change in visitors' thinking about evolution--and, by extension, other complex topics. The project team and advisors will collaboratively will build varying levels of facilitation and challenge into theatrical programming that connects objects and experiences across the museum to help visitors construct a story of evolution. Project research will focus on the creation of three variants of a theatrical game to test a theoretical framework that describes the game dynamics and facilitation necessary for experiences that support conceptual shifts in visitors' understanding about evolution. This work will take place in four phases, and will be conducted by researchers at the Science Museum of Minnesota with input and review through an external evaluation process. The questions guiding the research are: (1) How, and in what ways, do game design features support conceptual shifts in evolution concepts?; (2) Do player outcomes differ in each game? If so, in what ways?; (3) What other factors (player profile, collaboration, evolution beliefs) influence player outcomes? (4) What are the best practices for facilitating the games and supporting visitors' experiences? The research will contribute to the under-studied field of participatory museum theatre experiences; broaden our understanding of the roles facilitation and gameplay have in informal learning; and help exhibit and program developers make informed choices about the potential of various exhibit components and aligned programming.
The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, in partnership with several universities and a science advisory committee of distinguished international researchers in physics and astronomy, is producing "The Matter of Origins," a two-part experimental program that engages the public in explorations of the nature of beginnings and the physics of the origin of matter. Act I takes place in a theater where audiences will experience a dance performance illuminated by video and a vivid soundscape. Act II takes place in an adjacent space where audiences, who will be seated with scientists, historians, philosophers, and religious leaders, can participate in facilitated dialogue about the nature of origins in an immersive environment that incorporates dance, projected images, and provocative questions. The program will be implemented around the country, initially at four universities, with possible expansion to additional venues. The goals of this EAGER project are (1) to develop an innovative model for using dance, digital media, and structured dialogue to attract and engage public audiences in science content and processes and (2) to explore how artistic practices may have broader applications with respect to science learning and research. The intention is to explore how science can be represented in the art and in the experience and not simply interpreted into abstract choreographic expression with a program note. The program elements and outcomes will be evaluated by researchers from Michigan State University who will study impacts on the public and on participating professionals - dancers, scientists, etc. Dissemination of results will be to professional communities in the sciences, arts and informal science education.
Calabrese Barton and colleagues examine the beliefs and science practices of two students in a two-year study across settings. The study seeks to answer the question, “What do girls from non-dominant populations do to author themselves into or out of science, in spite of – or because of – their grades?” The study also examines how structures such as teacher support, community organizations, and school tracking systems promote or hinder opportunities for these students to author identities in science.
This 2006 paper reviews the ways in which structured informal learning programs for youth have been characterized in the research literature. The paper synthesizes opportunities for and challenges to research in this domain; it categorizes programs and gives concrete examples of various program types. A proposed Vygotskian research framework is organized around key dimensions of the informal learning context, including location, relationships, content, pedagogy, and assessment.
The article discusses the research which showed that the usage of drama in the classroom by the educators can promote a deeper learning in the variety of verbal fields. Drama has been considered as an effective tool to improve the accomplishment in story understanding, reading achievement, reading preparedness and writing. The result has demonstrated that the drama helps the children to master the texts they enact and to practice the new materials that are not yet enacted. The study has showed that drama instruction can serve as a creative and effective instrument for learning that exceeds
The Great Immensity is a play with music created by the New York-based theater company, The Civilians. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), this production explores humans' relationship to the environment focusing on critical issues of conservation and climate change. It premiered at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KC Rep) from February 17 through March 18, 2012. This summative evaluation employs the Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects (Friedman 2008) to assess the play and its ancillary programs' impact on adult and student audiences
In summary, this Planning Grant has demonstrated that the Fusion Science Theater mode successfully uses the dramatic structure of a play to create an investigative, participatory theater event that conveys science information, concepts, and methodology in a way that is engaging to children and attractive to parents and educators. The model can be transferred to others both by teaching others to develop their own shows and by training undergraduates to perform FST shows that have already been created. Finally, significant achievements have occurred in publicizing the model and in recruiting
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Joanne CantorMadison Area Technical College