This document provides information about the quantitative and qualitative data collected and analyzed for this project with hopes that it informs future research and evaluation efforts for STEM education in rural contexts.
In this paper, Margaret Marino of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History discusses methodology and findings of an extensive summative evaluation of the "Horse Tales--An Evolutionary Odyssey" exhibit. This permanent exhibition on the history, biomechanics and importance of the horse in the southwest premiered at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History before it was moved to the new Anne C. Stradling Museum of the Horse in Ruidoso, New Mexico. The appendix of this paper includes the observation forms and visitor survey used in the study.
Living Laboratory® (developed at the Museum of Science, Boston in 2005) is a new model for partnerships between museums and cognitive scientists, bringing cognitive scientists to museums, where they conduct active research studies with museum visitors as their subjects. In 2011, the Museum of Science began scaling up Living Laboratory to create a National Living Lab network. In Year 1, the program expanded to three new Hub sites: Madison Children’s Museum, Maryland Science Center, and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. This report summarizes all formative evaluation from Year 1 of the
This report details the findings from an exploratory research study conducted by the Research and Evaluation Department at the Museum of Science, Boston about this exhibition, which came to be known as Provocative Questions (PQ). This investigation was guided by the following questions: 1. Will visitors engage in socio-scientific argumentation in an un-facilitated exhibit space, and are they aware that they are doing so? 2. How do the un-facilitated exhibits impact visitors’ socio-scientific argumentation skills? For the exploratory research study, visitors were cued to use the exhibits and
The purpose of the Handbook is to inform the co-creation of a new wave of iSaveSpecies interactives designed to deepen engagement in science and conservation at zoos, aquariums, and other living-exhibit institutions. The Handbook allows participating institutions to easily collect visitor data, to better understand how visitors currently engage at exhibits, and to apply visitor data to the development of iSaveSpecies inquiry and action tools. We describe some common methods of data collection including: timing and tracking of visitors, prototyping exhibit mock-ups, and language testing using
The purpose of this summative evaluation was to find out how visitors are using and learning from the East by Northwest exhibit at the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) in Seattle, Washington. The exhibit tells the story of Seattle's Ethiopian community, highlighting the continuity of the culture and the contribution to our shared experience. To do this, three methods were employed: 1) tracking and timing observations, 2) exit surveys, and 3) analysis of guestbook entries. A total of 188 visitors were included in this study. Data collection occurred during January, February, and March
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Marta BeyerAlex CurioJulie DoughertyJustine WalkerErin WilcoxUniversity of Wisconsin
This is the summative evaluation of Sharks: Myth and Mystery, a temporary exhibition at the aquarium from 2004 to 2006, which explored how cultures from around the world incorporate sharks into their customs, stories and rituals. The evaluation included timing and tracking, structured interviews and post-visit web surveys, which can be found in the appendix of this report.