In Spring 2006, the Missouri Botanical Garden received a National Science Foundation grant to fund the LIONS program. LIONS trained educators from the St. Louis region, through professional development about place-based education, to deliver after school and summer programming to students grades 5 through 8. Since its inception, the LIONS program has included evaluation of program implementation and outcomes. There were dramatic changes in the scope of the program, which expanded beyond the originally targeted University City school district by adding additional schools recruited by LIONS
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN) brings together three universities with unique strengths in nanoscience and nanomanufacturing: the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UML); Northeastern University, Boston (NEU); and the University of New Hampshire, Durham (UNH). The University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (UMDI) is conducting the five-year evaluation of CHN's education and outreach activities. The evaluation uses multiple sources of evidence to analyze project processes and outcomes. Using quantitative and qualitative
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Center for High-rate NanomanufacturingCarol Lynn AlpertCarol BarryUMass Donahue Institute Research and Evaluation Group
The National Partnerships for Afterschool Science (NPASS) Project was led by The Center for Science Education (CSE) at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) in Newton, MA in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) in Berkeley, CA, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NPASS project approach relied on a professional development training and mentorship model to build the capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) to lead high-quality, hands-on science and engineering activities in their afterschool programming. An overarching project research question
Concord Evaluation Group (CEG) performed an evaluation study in the fall of 2010 on behalf of WGBH to evaluate the effectiveness of an online, interactive webisode developed as an educational component of the FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman series (http://pbskids.org/fetch/). The webisode was not connected to the FETCH! website at the time of the evaluation study, but will be after the study is complete. With an emphasis on building math skills, the interactive webisode was designed to teach and engage elementary-aged kids (ages 6 – 10) to identify and create combinations. In addition to identifying
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
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amy Grack NelsonMelissa FitzenbergerKathleen MillerClaire Phillippe
CEG (formerly Veridian inSight, LLC) performed a formative study, including six focus groups, in October 2009 on behalf of WGBH. The focus groups took place in Boston, MA, Nashville, TN, and Phoenix, AZ. In each city, we conducted two focus groups. We divided the groups with respect to age (e.g., 6-7 year olds were recruited for one group in each city, 8-9 year olds were recruited for the second focus group in each city). A total of 41 children participated in the study. The goal of the formative study was to gather kids' feedback on the animated LOOP Six-Minute Sample. The focus group
The purpose of this evaluation conducted at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History was to find out how visitors are behaving in, reacting to and learning from the newly reopened Sant Ocean Hall. To do this, three methods were employed: a) timing and tracking, b) exit interviews and c) focused studies for specific exhibits and experiences. A total of 553 unique visitors were included in the study, with data collection occurring in December 2008 and January 2009. Visitor groups spent an overall time of just under twenty minutes, and the five most enjoyed elements were
In order to better understand how visitors to science and natural history museums connect to ideas around Indigenous knowledge and Western science, the Cosmic Serpent evaluation team (Institute for Learning Innovation and Native Pathways) conducted front-end audience research focused on audience perceptions and attitudes towards Indigenous ways of knowing and Western science in informal science settings.A total of 121 exit interviews were conducted with visitors to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, NM, and to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jill SteinShelly ValdezTammy MessickUniversity of California-BerkeleyIndigenous Education Institute
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) partnered with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under renewed National Science Foundation funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. The 2007-2008 evaluation of the project found evidence of effective implementation and data on important student
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry
Nanoscience is an emerging scientific field, and therefore an increasing amount of funding is flowing into nanoscience and nanotechnology research, including money from the federal government. Several studies of public understanding and public attitudes toward nanoscience have shown that most of the public is generally uninterested in and unmotivated to learn about nanoscale science and technology3. Because this emerging interdisciplinary field of science offers so much promise, and because it will have an increasing presence in everyday life, the NSF is committed to increasing public
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mark St. JohnJenifer V. HelmsNanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) NetworkPam CastoriJudy HirabayashiLaurie LopezMichelle Phillips
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is partnering with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under the renewed National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. An SCRT program website is under development with program information and a social networking page
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry
This report presents findings from the evaluation of the Baseball Stories user generated content (UGC) project. The Baseball Stories project was created by the Information and Interactive Technology Department to allow people to share stories about their experiences with baseball for display in the Baseball As America traveling exhibition. As a part of the project, a website was created where people could create and post their stories and view other stories, and an exhibition kiosk was created where people could view their or others' stories or send an email to remind themselves to create a