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.
We present the assets that collaboration across a land grant university brought to the table, and the Winterberry Citizen Science program design elements we have developed to engage our 1080+ volunteer berry citizen scientists ages three through elder across urban and rural, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and formal and informal learning settings.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Katie SpellmanJasmine ShawChristine VillanoChrista MulderElena SparrowDouglas Cost
We used a youth focused wild berry monitoring program that spanned urban and rural Alaska to test this method across diverse age levels and learning settings.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Katie SpellmanDouglas CostChristine Villano
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 project includes the development of a toolkit of new hands-on facilitated museum activities, and a mobile app with both app-based activities and do-it-yourself (DIY) activities. This evaluation report focuses on the formative evaluation of three app activities that are being added to the DIY app series.
This project includes the development of a toolkit of new hands-on facilitated museum activities, and a mobile app with both app-based activities and DIY activities. The toolkit expands on the Explore Science series from the NISE Network and will be distributed to 350 NISE Network partner sites. This evaluation report focuses on the formative evaluation of the facilitated museum activities at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
This is a compilation of front-end, formative, and a partial summative evaluations, and an exploratory study using the xMacroscope, a data visualization technology developed for generating data from an exhibit using data captured from visitor actions.
The Kaulele Kapa Exhibit was created to explore the effectiveness of a Hawaiian culture-based framework and approach in increasing learner engagement and depth of knowledge in STEM among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) learners. The exhibit utilized hands-on and interactive activities, coupled with scientific and cultural information, to create relevant learning experiences for these communities. To determine the effectiveness, exhibit attendees were invited to complete a survey that asked about how the exhibit influenced their interest and understanding of STEM and Hawaiian culture