With major funding from the National Science Foundation, the Museum Film Network and NOVA/WGBH in conjunction with MacGillivray Freeman Films have produced an IMAX/ OMNIMAX film called Stormchasers. Stormchasers follows scientists as they investigate the dramatic weather effects of monsoons, hurricanes, and tornadoes. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test nonequivalent comparison group design was used with middle school students to evaluate the film and ancillary schoolroom activities. Intact school classes were assigned to one of two treatments: viewing the film only (FILM) and viewing
With major funding from the National Science Foundation, the Museum Film Network and NOVA/WGBH in conjunction with MacGillivray Freeman Films have produced an IMAX/ OMNIMAX film called Stormchasers. Stormchasers follows scientists as they investigate the dramatic weather effects of monsoons, hurricanes, and tornadoes. A quasi-experimental separate-sample pretest/posttest design was used to evaluate the film in its natural theater setting, focusing on the following major outcomes with adult audiences:
• To what extent did the program appeal to adult viewers? • To what extent did the
This report summarizes the processes and findings of a two-year, multimethod evaluation of the Museum of Science & Industry's Mystery at the Museum program. The evaluation's purpose was to assess the program's impact on teachers and students and to guide program improvements.
In this paper, Margie Marino of the Denver Museum of Natural History discusses the value of museum maps and how her institution used evaluation to improve the design of a new hand-held map.
This paper describes the process researchers and staff used to improve wayfinding at the Minnesota History Center. The authors discuss findings from this research as well as general recommendations for helping visitors find their way around and make choices.
In this paper, Kersti Krug of the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver explores how hypertext can contribute to postmodern issues of visitor research. Krug argues that hypertext has potential to present new ways of "seeing and influencing change by enhancing access to knowledge about visitors."
This paper discusses the obstacles that the Philadelphia Zoo confronted when they attempted to evaluate and develop a series of interactive activity kits called "Explore-A-Zoo." The kits aimed to encourage families with children aged 3-9 to interact together in front of exhibits while at the same time improve their science process skills. This paper describes the challenges staff encountered while interviewing preliterate 3-5 year olds as well as highlights two data collection methods that they found successful.
In this paper, Swarthmore College's Christine Massey surveys methods from other fields, particularly developmental psychology, to gain insight into how one might allow young children to be direct participants in visitor evaluation and research studies, with a special emphasis on investigations involving learning. Massey discusses the special challenges in working with young children during evaluations.
In this paper, David M. Simmons discusses visitor studies at Old Sturbridge Village. Simmons presents an overview of visitor evaluation projects throughout the history of the institution as well as how it has responded to the data collected about visitor demographics and preferences.
In this paper, evaluator Randi Korn presents findings from a front-end evaluation for a traveling exhibition about severe weather, developed through a collaboration among the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, National Museum of Natural History, St. Louis Science Center, and National Severe Storms Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This article presents findings from the part of the evaluation that focused on differences between visitors to natural history museums and science centers, regarding demographic and group composition data as well as
In this paper, Marilyn G. Hood, Ph.D., of Hood Associates, examines the issue of how adults' leisure choices are influenced by their socialization during childhood. Hood describes the methodology she developed to measure the influence of childhood socialization on adult leisure choices as well as the value of using her multi-attribute model in understand museum visitation patterns.
This paper describes the evaluation questions that drove two front-end studies conducted by Randi Korn & Associates (RKA) that were not in art museums. This paper also addresses of exhibition development with significant implications for front-end evaluation in the context of the studies. Then, the discussion returns to exhibition development and evaluation in art museums. Following this more abstract examination of the topic is a discussion of two front-end studies conducted by RKA at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1996, looking at how the process worked there and what benefit the staff