This mixed-methods evaluation, which was conducted at the request of the museum’s Communications department, answers two questions about a suite of special family events at the Burke Museum. First, this project sought to develop a profile of Family Day visitors – including any differences in audiences across individual events, and how visitors were receiving information about the events. Second, this evaluation sought to explore visitors’ expectations of and experiences at the events. Specific evaluation questions included the extent to which expectations and experiences aligned with one
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Emily CraigBetsy O'BrienRenae YoungsBurke Museum of Natural History and Culture
The Washington Park Arboretum (WPA) in Seattle is a 230 acre expanse of land which abuts Lake Washington. Apart from the Japanese Garden, admission into the arboretum is free and access points into the park are numerous. As such, tracking visitorship is challenging. For this front-end study the focus was on visitors at the Graham Visitor Center entry point. This point-of-entry has the benefit of both a parking lot and an established facility, allowing for a large amount of visitor data to be collected in a relatively short amount of time. The goal of this study was to better understand who
The Science Museum of Minnesota prototyped interpretive approaches to using an innovative scientific visualization system developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called Science On a Sphere (SOS). SOS is composed of a wide variety of visualizations projected onto a six-foot sphere creating animated, whole-planet views of the Earth, other planets in our solar system, and their moons. Visualizations of the Earth cover topics such as weather, climate, topography, earth system dynamics, and geophysical processes. A challenge of SOS is making the content accessible
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
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Amy Grack NelsonMinnesota Department of Natural Resources
The Science Museum of Minnesota conducted a study to find out how many visitors stopped at the Science on a Sphere (SOS) exhibit during their visit to the museum, visitors' prior knowledge of SOS, and why a visitor might chose not to visit SOS. A total of 189 visitors were interviewed. Findings included: - Groups of adults and children were more likely to visit SOS than groups composed of adults only. - Most visitors just happened across the exhibit during their visit rather than sought it out. - Of the visitors who did not stop at SOS, few were familiar with the exhibit. - Both visitors who
In 2006, the Science Museum of Minnesota carried out a formative evaluation of the traveling exhibition, Disease Detectives. Disease Detectives features an immersive environment where visitors investigate a case by meeting a patient (an interactive mannequin), interpreting lab tests, and exploring specific environments to learn more about disease transmission and prevention. Each case highlights a different mode of disease transmission and the relevant illnesses. The purpose of this evaluation was to look at the usability and learning outcomes of one of the three proposed scenarios for the
In May of 2006, Science on a Sphere (SOS) was set up in a permanent exhibit space at the Science Museum of Minnesota. With the new installation of the Sphere, came the addition of a variety of features that were not included in the initial front-end study. These new features included an expanded playlist, new audio for some of the visualizations, accompanying labels projected on the wall describing the visualization, indication on the labels of what image will be playing next, and seating for visitors so they can sit and view the sphere. The new master playlist was composed of three smaller
During January 2007, the Science Museum of Minnesota carried out a study to gather visitor feedback on a variety of potential interpretive features of Science on a Sphere. Visitor preferences related to the use of interpretive labels and graphics directly on the Sphere and the speed in which visualizations rotate were studied. A total of 51 visitors were interviewed. Key findings include: 1. Three quarters of visitors preferred descriptive labels to be directly on the Sphere. 2. If labels were projected on the Sphere, almost all the visitors wanted them to disappear after a period of time. 3
Front-end and formative evaluation of the Science Museum of Minnesota's Invention, Design, Engineering, and Art (IDEA) Cooperative youth development program was carried out from June 2008 - May 2009. The front-end and formative evaluation activities were guided by four overarching questions. 1. To what extent are youth able to apply IT and engineering process skills to design challenges? Can they come up with multiple solutions to challenges? Are they persistent problem solvers? 2. To what extent does the program provide youth with the necessary resources to help youth prepare for both
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Amy Grack NelsonMelissa FitzenbergerKathleen MillerClaire Phillippe
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
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Marianne McPhersonElizabeth BachrachIrene F GoodmanScreenscope, Inc.American Association for the Advancement of Science
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted front-end evaluation and Alpha testing for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics of EarthScope Panorama, an interactive Earth science game for middle school youth. The front-end evaluation focused on the prospective content, format, and platform of the game, with the broad goal of assessing four different game prototypes in a population of middle school students. The specific objectives of the evaluation were to document and assess what students already know about EarthScope-related themes and content, what geoscience questions they have
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Marianne E. McPhersonLaura HousemanIrene F GoodmanHarvard-Smithsonian Center for AstrophysicsSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
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.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Sue AllenChildren's Discovery Museum of San Jose