This document summarizes lessons learned from implementing Leap into Science: Cultivating a National Network for Informal Science and Literacy (Leap into Science) from 2017-2023.
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.
This assessment serves as the summative assessment of the IMLS-funded project at KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum: Natural History Mystery: Immersing families in a problem-solving game using museum collections. The assessment employs a mixed methods approach, in which both quantitative and qualitative data are collected. More specifically, quantitative data are generated from surveys that are administered to participants at the beginning and end of the game and analyzed by using descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, standard deviation, and histogram) and paired sample t-test
This annual report presents an overview of Saint Louis Science Center audience data gathered through a variety of evaluation studies conducted during 2015. This report includes information on the Science Center's general public audience demographics and visitation patterns, gives an overview of visitors' comments about their Science Center experience, summarizes major trends observed in the Science Center's tool for tracking educational programs, and presents highlights from a Membership study, a formative evaluation of a new Makerspace exhibition, and program evaluation of a workshop for the
This study explored the effect of depth of learning (as measured in hours) on creativity, curiosity, persistence and self-efficacy. We engaged ~900 parents and 900 students across 21 sites in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Alabama, Virginia and the United Arab Emirates, in 5-week (10-hr) Curiosity Machine programs. Iridescent trained partners to implement the programs. Thus, this analysis was also trying to establish a baseline to measure any loss in impact from scaling our programs and moving to a “train-the-trainer” model. We analyzed 769 surveys out of which 126 were paired. On
Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Brooklyn NY
Audience Research for a New Garden, 2016
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A), to conduct a study of visitors to the Discovery Garden. The goal of this study was to assess the successes and challenges of the exhibition and accompanying interactive elements to support the BBG in improving the Discovery Garden.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A used three methodologies to address the study objectives, based on specific outcomes developed by BBG for the Discovery Garden. Data were collected through
This study was a longitudinal summative evaluation of repeat visitors’ experiences in four Math Moves! exhibitions that were developed as part of a large collaborative exhibition development project called Math Core for Museums, and mounted at four museums around the country: Museum of Science (Boston); Museum of Life & Science (Durham, NC); Explora (Albuquerque); and Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul). The summative evaluation purposively selected four family groups at each institution and collected naturalistic data as the 16 groups engaged with the exhibits from 4-6 times over a two
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded OMSI funding during the spring of 2011 to create a 2,000 sq. ft. bilingual (English/Spanish) traveling exhibition exploring current research on the human microbiome and the impact of our resident microorganisms on our health. The exhibition was developed with the support of the J. Craig Venter Institute and other national experts in microbiome research. More information about the exhibition can be found at http://omsi.edu/exhibitions/zoo-in-you/. The Zoo in You Project Goals are to (1) Educate museum visitors and program participants about what
The data collection for this project involved three audiences: (1) a post-event survey completed by participants at the 'Eight-Legged Encounters' event, (2) a club experience survey completed by middle school students in an after-school club, and (3) focus groups, observations, and end-of-course evaluations conducted with students in the BIOS 497/897 'Communicating Science through Outreach' seminar class at the University of Lincoln, Nebraska. Year two data collection was completed from September 2013 - March 2014. Appendix includes survey.
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University of Nebraska-LincolnEileen Hebets
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
Visitors to the Museum of Life and Science (MLS) in Durham can now explore acres of new exhibition space, called BioQuest Woods. To get to BioQuest Woods, visitors walk outside and away from the Museum building a quarter of a mile, passing Loblolly Park, the Farmyard, the trail to the Butterfly House, and Grayson's Cafe. Upon approaching BioQuest Woods, they encounter a fork in the trail where they can choose to enter one of two exhibition areas: Catch the Wind or Explore the Wild. On the backside of either exhibition area, people can choose to take a full loop (which is a total of a half-mile
This evaluation study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of two design strategies used in Beyond the X-Ray: personal stories which were a part of the Five Windows on the Body and a separate kid area which was implemented in Kid Radiology. Evaluation Questions: 1. How do visitors interact with and use the exhibits in Beyond the X-Ray that were created with the instructional design strategies that are the focus of this evaluation? 2. In what ways, if any, are the exhibits that are designed with the targeted strategies effective at achieving their stated goals? 3. What are the visitors'