The summative evaluation focuses on two project components: (1) an IMAX® Dome film, titled Coral Reef Adventure, and (2) an associated interactive exhibit, titled Weird, Wild and Underwater, intended to be displayed in museum and science center lobbies. The general goals for the summative evaluation study were to assess the appeal of "Coral Reef Adventure" film and the lobby exhibit; acquisition of scientific knowledge and understanding as related to the project’s learning goals and understanding of film topics; and the impact that the exhibit has on viewers of the film. A separate-sample
A quasi-experimental separate-sample pretest/posttest study was implemented in Boston with adult viewers of the IMAX film "Dolphins." A majority of adults rated the film as 'very interesting,' reporting that they liked the film's cinematography, educational value and experiential quality. Viewing the film significantly increased adult viewers' knowledge about topics associated with dolphins. A second study focused on seventh grade students who viewed only the film or viewed the film and subsequently completed film-related activities in their school classroom setting. A quasi-experimental
A summative evaluation in Jersey City, New Jersey at the Liberty Science Center’s IMAX® Dome Theater was carried out with adult (18+ years) viewers. A quasi-experimental separate-sample pretest/posttest design was used. "Island of the Sharks" made a positive impact on sample adult audience member’s knowledge of topics presented in the film and was reportedly moderately or very interesting to 81% of the adult sample. A second summative evaluation involving three classes from each of two middle schools was carried out with seventh grade students. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest
This study addressed the questions of whether or not the IMAX/OMNIMAX film "Tropical Rainforest" contributes to a positive attitude towards, and and increase in knowledge about, the tropical rain forests of the world. Results indicate that there are statistically significant increases in knowledge gained as well as an increase in positive attitudes towards the tropical rain forests. All three specific audiences (grades 1-6; grades 7-12; adult general) tended to increase overall.
A quasi-experimental separate-sample pretest/posttest design was used to assess the impact of the giant screen film "The Greatest Places" on adult viewers. A second evaluation was implemented with eighth grade students who either viewed the film after two related reading activities or viewed the film without associated activity.
The summative evaluation focused on four major outcomes: (1) to what extent did the film appeal to adult viewers? (2) to what extent did the film achieve its intended viewing goals? (3) what did viewers perceive that they learned from the film, if anything? (4) did viewing the film influence the audience beyond the museum visit? A quasi-experimental separate-sample pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate the film in its natural theater setting: 204 adults responded to the presurvey and 199 to the post survey. Thirty adult audience members were also interviewed by phone one week later
During March 2017, Kathy Burke and Kari Nelson conducted a study of visitors to the special exhibition, The Power of Poison. The objective of this study was to discover how visitors moved through the exhibition and interacted with it, and how visitors perceived the intended message and related the exhibition to the overall goals of the NHMU. To achieve the objectives of this study, two evaluation methods were used: unobtrusive tracking and timing and cued questionnaires.
The Power of Poison is among the most thoroughly used exhibitions to be hosted in the NHMU special exhibitions gallery
The Extreme Plants Traveling Sideshow is a theatre piece performed at the Natural History Museum of Utah in relation to the special exhibition, The Power of Poison. While NHMU has a history of Museum Theatre performances, this was the first to be performed since its move to the Rio Tinto Center.
The goal of this evaluation was to understand the visitor experience with museum theater and museum theatre’s value in communicating science content, as well as to inform future productions at NHMU. With this in mind, we sought answer the following questions:
1. Did guests feel the performance
Beginning in September 2015, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) initiated the three-year project Latina SciGirls: Promoting Middle School-Age Hispanic Girls' Positive STEM Identity Development. The cornerstone of the project is a fourth season of the Emmy Award-winning television and transmedia project SciGirls, to premiere in 2017, in this case involving six half-hour SciGirls episodes filmed in Spanish showing groups of Hispanic girls and their Hispanic STEM mentors investigating science and engineering problems. The television
The San Diego Natural History Museum (theNAT) contracted RK&A to conduct a summative evaluation of the exhibition Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science and to explore how well the exhibition communicates an inclusive view of science. The goals for the evaluation were to explore visitors’ behaviors in the exhibition as well as understand what meanings visitors made from the exhibition, particularly with regard to how the exhibition’s messages about citizen science are resonating in the context of visitors’ science identity.
RK&A conducted timing and tracking
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
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer BorlandRuth CohenDebra TillingerMaria Janelli
From 2013-2016, Pacific Science Center, implemented the Exploring Earth Systems Sciences (EESS) project with the purpose of developing and delivering scripted demonstrations utilizing the Science On a Sphere (SOS) technology in order to promote understanding of and increase interest in Earth systems sciences. Specifically, the grant allowed the Science Interpretation team to research and write 20-minute presentations, targeted towards visitors aged 11 and older, about nine unique topics such as: climate change, weather, seasons, or the Polar Regions. Staff were then provided training in