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.
Overview
In 2021, we worked with the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative (AWHI) to design and implement a baseline study that would measure the long-term impacts of the Because of Her Story (BOHS) internship program on participants. The program is a cross-Smithsonian initiative that matches interns with museum projects meant to amplify women's stories to tell a more complete American history, reach a diverse audience, and empower and inspire people from all walks of life.
Together, we articulated clear and measurable mid- and long-term outcomes for internship
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), in partnership with scholars from Utah State University and educators from the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), has developed the Spatial Ability and Blind Engineering Research (SABER) project to assess and improve the spatial ability of blind teens in order to broaden their participation in STEM fields. The goals of the project include: 1. Develop and investigate the reliability of a tactile instrument to test blind and low vision youths’ spatial ability levels. 2. Contribute to the knowledge base of effective practices regarding informal STEM
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Gary TimkoTheresa GreenDaniel KaneWade GoodridgeLaura Weiss
The Lineage project was a collaboration between Twin Cities Public Television and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The project included creation of a feature-length video program, a Virtual Reality game, and a set of hands-on activities designed for use by multigenerational audiences—all of which were incorporated as part of a series of seven Fossil Festival events at museums and other sites around the United States. This report presents findings from a set of external evaluation studies that examined impacts on families who participated in Fossil Festival events as well
This report summarizes the project work and research findings for a project designed to address racial justice through a STEM lens, in Minnesota communities, in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The project was rooted in principles of power sharing and co-creation. Though ultimately challenging, and not entirely successful according to the original goals, this report provides an overview of research findings and lessons learned.
Appendices include instruments.
“Not a place for me” is often one of the main reasons people choose not to visit art museums.
Such perceptions of art museums call for institutions to create wider and more diverse entry points for visitors. At the Art Institute of Chicago—envisioned by our first president as a “museum of living thought”—we seek to continually expand art historical narratives by bringing together a plurality of perspectives and voices to processes of research, scientific and creative inquiry, and to increasingly varied modes of public engagement with art. To achieve these goals we developed a multifaceted
With funding from a Smithsonian Institution Youth Access Grant the National Museum of Natural History offered a program pipeline that would engage underserved Washington D.C. students in programming designed to encourage academic and career STEM interest. Beginning with collaboration with community educators, the pipeline funneled students into a Teen Night Out Science Night to interest them in science workshop series offered after school and on weekend and ultimately into volunteer and internship opportunities. This report provides detailed view of methods, analyses, results, and conclusions
The Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies (COVES) aims to help science centers gather and share data to better understand visitors’ experiences. For the summative evaluation of COVES, the Museum of Science’s Research and Evaluation Department studied the program’s impacts on participating museums and museum professionals. Specifically, this evaluation was designed to:
Examine participants’ overall satisfaction with the collaboration and their likelihood to recommend it to others;
Understand the impact that COVES is having on Participating Institutions;
Assess whether
The Museum of Science, Boston’s Research and Evaluation Department conducted a summative evaluation of The Hall of Human Life (HHL) exhibition. This 9,700 square foot exhibition is geared towards older children and adults. It is focused on human biology and human health with the main message, “Human beings are changing in a changing environment.” Visitors are able to use their own bodies and behaviors to understand biological mechanisms. Unique to this exhibition, visitors are able to use scannable wristbands to record and compare personal data with other Museum visitors to learn about their
In August 2012, the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) contracted with Audience Focus (AF), a Maryland-‐based research and evaluation organization, to evaluate visitors’ experiences with the Scientist Is In program. Specifically, AF was asked to design a comprehensive study that would provide insight into the nature of visitors’ engagement with the program, and how participation in the program influenced visitors’ understanding of and curiosity about science topics, awareness of science careers, perceptions of NMNH as a research institution, and recognition of the connections between
In its program, “Maximizing Lifelong Learning Opportunities: Innovative Strategies for Science Museums,” the American Museum of Natural History sought to develop, implement and assess a series of online and face-to-face adult learning courses, that shared the name “Our Earth’s Future” and focused on the topic of climate change. An external evaluation of this effort was conducted by Rockman et al, an independent evaluation firm that specializes in the evaluation of informal science learning programs. This research effort builds on prior knowledge gained from studies of adult learning programs
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer BorlandRuth CohenDebra TillingerMaria Janelli
As part of a grant from the National Science Foundation, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is conducting regional STEM workshops in partnership with local science museums, entitled NFB STEM2U, for blind youth [youth], grades 3 – 6 and 9-12 [apprentices]. During the fifth regional workshop in San Francisco, CA, the NFB operated two different programs simultaneously: one program for youth and a second program for their parents/caregivers. A third program, for the Exploratorium staff, was conducted earlier to prepare the museum staff to assist with the youth program. A separate report