The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) and Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment (BASE) contracted RK&A to conduct an evaluation of their partnership’s progress and outcomes over three years. The goal of the summative evaluation is to explore students, families, and teachers’ perceptions of and relationship to BBG and the BBG-BASE partnership. The evaluation also explored attitudes and understandings of how to engage in nature exploration, scientific inquiry, and environmental stewardship in a meaningful way.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A developed questionnaires to be
Describes an outdoor educational program at the University of California Botanical Garden in which children are encouraged to handle the plants and are provided with a taped commentary. By the use of an inquiry method, children learn how the Californian Indians used many of the native plants.
This white paper is the product of the CAISE Formal-Informal Partnerships Inquiry Group, which began work during a July 2008 ISE Summit organized by CAISE. Their examination of what the authors call "the hybrid nature of formal-informal collaborations" draws on relevant theoretical perspectives and a series of case studies to highlight ways in which the affordances of formal and informal settings can be combined and leveraged to create rich, compelling, authentic, and engaging science that can be systematically developed over time and settings.
This summative evaluation of the University of Washington Botany Greenhouse K-12 Education Outreach Program analyzed the contents of 468 thank-you notes written by program participants using the National Science Foundation’s Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects. Strong evidence was found for impacts in three STEM learning categories: Awareness, Knowledge or Understanding, Engagement or Interest, and Skills.