The Yellowstone Park Foundation is partnering with Yellowstone National Park (YNP) to develop and build a visitor education center at Old Faithful. Selinda Research Associates (SRA) worked with staff from Yellowstone's Division of Interpretation to plan and conduct a front-end evaluation of the exhibits for the new center. The evaluation was grounded in naturalistic methodology and used a variety of methods to triangulate on park visitors understanding of and reactions to a variety of issues. These methods included in-depth interviews with visitors both before and after their visits and card
The Outdoor Exploratorium Project is a five-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF0104478), that aims to encourage and support visitors in noticing the subtleties of the outdoor environment. The study described here is one in a set of evaluation studies conducted for this project. It is a first look at what and how visitors notice in the area immediately outside the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts. In particular, we look at visitors' experiences with a noticing toolkit, a set of simple tools we gave visitors to encourage them to explore the outdoors. The study 1)
With support from the National Science Foundation and Best Buy, Twin Cities Public Television has produced a science series for children. Entitled "DragonflyTV," the series presents real kids engaged in real science to promote the process of science inquiry in viewers. This formative evaluation gathered feedback from 5th and 6th graders in response to three 28 minute videos, presented one per week. The following were the general research goals: To evaluate change in student ability to design an experiment To measure change in interest in doing one's own science investigation To determine
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Barbara FlaggTwin Cities Public Television
This guiding question for this evaluation conducted by ILI was to measure the long term impact of the NYHS SCL program on its participants. The SCL participants also known as Explainers are high school and college students who are paid employees for NYHS. Focus was on knowledge development and skill development specifically critical thinking, and problem solving and transfer of those skills to everyday life. The evaluation also attempted to gauge SCL graduates' perception of science and scientists, influence of the program on career planning, leisure time choices with respect to lifelong
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Martin StorksdieckNew York Hall of ScienceKate Haley-GoldmanMika Cohen Jones
The University of Pennsylvania Museum has received a grant from the Philadelphia History Exhibitions Initiative (PHEI) to plan an exhibit on human evolution. The exhibit and associated educational programs will be produced and exhibited in Philadelphia and then travel to other venues across the United States. The working title for the exhibition is Being Human: A Design in Process. The University Museum contracted with Minda Borun, Museum Solutions, to conduct and interpret a series of focus groups with significant audience segments to assess their knowledge, preferences, and feelings about
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Minda BorunUniversity of Pennsylvania Museum