By first recognizing the valuable social and scientific practices taking place within families as they learn science together across multiple, everyday settings, this dissertation addresses questions of how to design and scaffold activities that build and expand on those practices to foster a deep understanding of science, and how the aesthetic experience of learning science builds connections across educational settings. Families were invited to visit a natural history museum, an aquarium, and a place or activity of the family’s choice that they associated with science learning. Some families
The Museum of Science will launch the "Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies" (COVES) project to construct an infrastructure for collaboration, which will unite science centers across the country in the systematic collection, analysis, and reporting of visitor experience data. The COVES program will develop common instruments for studying visitors in science museums and provide staff training on how to use these instruments and how to make sense of findings. The collaborative effort will enable participating science centers to become data-driven organizations focused on their audiences and will allow museums to learn from one another.
The 5-year longitudinal study on Iridescent's Family Science Learning model was conducted with 2,173 participants from 9 schools and museum sites in Los Angeles and New York City. Participants were underserved elementary school students and their parents. Families met once a week for 5 weeks in a row. Five families (~20 participants) came for all 5 years.
Each program implementation was coordinated by Iridescent team members. The goal of this study was to:
* To identify scalable methods of engaging underserved audiences in STEM.
* To identify sustainable methods of supporting long-term
This article addresses some of the challenges faced when attempting to evaluate the long-term impact of informal science learning interventions. To contribute to the methodological development of informal science learning research, we critically examine (Falk and Needham (2011) Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48: 1–12.) study of the California Science Center's long-term impact on the Los Angeles population's understanding, attitude and interest in science. This study has been put forward as a good model of long-term impact evaluation for other researchers and informal science learning
In order to improve science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) learning, it is crucial to better understand the informal experiences that young children have that prepare them for formal science education. Young children are naturally curious about the world around them, and research in developmental psychology shows that families often support children in exploring and seeking explanations for scientific phenomena. It is less clear how to link children's natural curiosity and everyday parent-child interaction with more formal STEM learning. This collaborative project will team researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Texas, and Brown University with informal learning practitioners at the Children's Discovery Museum, The Thinkery, and the Providence Children's Museum in order to investigate how family interaction relates to children's causal learning, as well as how modifications to museum exhibit design and facilitation by museum staff influence families' styles of interaction and increase children's causal learning. This project is funded by the Research on Education and Learning (REAL) program which supports fundamental research by investigators from a range of disciplines in order to deepen what is known about STEM learning.
The project team will examine how ethnically and linguistically diverse samples of parents and children engage in collaborative scientific learning in three children's museums across the U.S. The research will combine observational studies of parent-child interaction in a real-world setting with experimental measures of children's causal learning. The investigators will examine how children explore and derive explanations for museum exhibits about mechanical gear function and fluid dynamics. In this way, the researchers will investigate the relation between styles of parent-child interaction and children's causal learning. The team will also investigate novel ways of presenting material within the exhibits to facilitate exploration and explanation. They will explore how signage, conversations with museum staff, parents' attitudes towards learning in museum settings, and parents' own prior knowledge about the exhibits can influence the parent-child interaction and subsequent causal learning. The project will advance the basic research goal of advancing what is known about what affects children's science content learning. It will also advance the practice-oriented goal of developing new strategies for the design of science museum exhibits and make recommendations for how parents can better talk to their children about scientific phenomena.
This project, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Berkeley, seeks to discover what makes middle school students engaged in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The researchers have developed a concept known as science learning activation, including dispositions, practices, and knowledge leading to successful STEM learning and engagement. The project is intended to develop and validate a method of measuring science learning activation.
The first stage of the project involves developing the questions to measure science activation, with up to 300 8th graders participating. The second stage is a 16-month longitudinal study of approximately 500 6th and 8th graders, examining how science learning activation changes over time. The key question is what are the influencers on science activation, e.g., student background, classroom activities, and outside activities.
This project addresses important past research showing that middle school interest in STEM is predictive of actually completing a STEM degree, suggesting that experiences in middle school and even earlier may be crucial to developing interest in STEM. This research goes beyond past work to find out what are the factors leading to STEM interest in middle school.
This work helps the Education and Human Resources directorate, and the Division of Research on Learning, pursue the mission of supporting STEM education research. In particular, this project focuses on improving STEM learning, as well as broadening participation in STEM education and ultimately the STEM workforce.
Over three years beginning in January 2016, the Science Museum of Virginia will launch a new suite of public programming entitled “Learn, Prepare, Act – Resilient Citizens Make Resilient Communities.” This project will leverage federally funded investments at the Museum, including a NOAA-funded Science On a Sphere® platform, National Fish and Wildlife-funded Rainkeepers exhibition, and the Department of Energy-funded EcoLab, to develop public programming and digital media messaging to help the general public understand climate change and its impacts on Virginia’s communities and give them tools to become resilient to its effects. Home to both the delicate Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and a highly vulnerable national shoreline, Virginia is extremely susceptible to the effects of climate change and extreme weather events. It is vital that citizens across the Commonwealth understand and recognize the current and future impacts that climate variability will have on Virginia’s economy, natural environment, and human health so that they will be better prepared to respond. In collaboration with NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication, Virginia Institute for Marine Science, Public Broadcasting Service/National Public Radio affiliates, and Resilient Virginia, the Museum will use data from the National Climatic Data Center and Virginia Coastal Geospatial and Educational Mapping System to develop and deliver new resiliency-themed programming. This will include presentations for Science On a Sphere® and large format digital Dome theaters, 36 audio and video digital media broadcast pieces, two lecture series, community preparedness events, and a Resiliency Checklist and Certification program. This project supports NOAA’s mission goals to advance environmental literacy and share its vast knowledge and data with others.
This is an extended discussion of the question that appeared in the Viewpoints department of the May/June 2015 issue of Dimensions magazine. It presents perspectives from science center and museum professionals about the role of 3D printing in their institutions.
There are many lenses through which we can measure the value of a museum experience.
There is the satisfaction factor: Did visitors have a good time? Were they engaged? Do they want to return?
There are learning outcomes: Did visitors learn something new? How much did they learn? How did their experience compare to other types of learning experiences?
And there is also meaning-making: Did respondents have a meaningful experience? A memorable one? A connective experience that made them want more?
While all three of these lenses (and many others) are important, meaning-making is
On the first day of the Science and Society course at the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Cooperstown, New York, I present the students with an incandescent lightbulb, with clear glass so one can easily see the filament inside. I ask the students how it works and they are able to tell me that the electricity comes in there, runs through the filament here, heats up, and produces light. Then I take out my iPhone and slide it across the table and ask, “How does this work?” Blank stares abound.
In the 1980s in the United States, the traditional science center business and mission models worked well. Science centers were the most prominent source for informal science learning with financial support from governments and donors and a quasi-monopoly on IMAX films, science store merchandise, and interactive exhibits. A science center’s exhibit department would devise interesting exhibits, and the marketing department simply advertised that content to whatever audience might be interested. From today’s perspective, those were relatively simple times.
Things began to change in the 1990s
This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by producing empirical findings and/or research tools that contribute to knowledge about which models and interventions with K-12 students and teachers are most likely to increase capacity in the STEM and STEM cognate intensive workforce of the future.
The LinCT (Linking Educators, Youth, and Learners in Computational Thinking) project at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) will engage female teachers-in-training and youth from underrepresented demographics in immersive technology experiences and STEM education. LinCT will guide teachers to develop their understanding and use of technology in the classroom, as well as prepare youth for a future where technology plays a key role in a wide range of professional opportunities. The project aims to inspire teachers and youth to see the possibilities of technological competencies, as well as why the incorporation of technology can build meaningful learning experiences and opportunities for all learners. The LinCT program model offers learning and application experiences for participating teachers and youth and provides an introduction of technological tools used in SMM educational programs and professional development on approaches for engaging all learners in STEM. Both groups will provide instruction in SMM technology-based Summer Camps, reaching 1,000 young people every year. In each following school year, project educators will develop and deliver technology-based programs to nearly 1,000 under-served and underrepresented elementary students. The project will allow teachers and youth to deliver exciting and engaging technology-based programs to nearly 4,000 diverse young learners. As a result, all participants in this project will be better equipped to incorporate technology in their future careers.
The LinCT project will investigate effective approaches for broadening the participation of underrepresented populations by providing female pre-service teachers and female youth with opportunities to lead programming at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM). Over three years, the LinCT project will employ 8-12 female teachers-in-training [Teacher Tech Cadres (TTC)] and 12-24 female youth [Youth Teaching Tech Crews (Y-TTC)] from demographics that are underrepresented in STEM fields. The integration of these groups will result in relationships fostered within an educational program, where all participants are learners and teachers, mentors and mentees. The results of this unique program model will be assessed through the experiences of this focused professional learning and teaching community. The LinCT research study will focus on three aspects of the project. First, it will seek to understand how the teachers-in-training and youth experience the project model's varied learning environments. Next, the study will explore how the TTC's and the Y-TTC's motivation, confidence, and self-efficacy with integrating technology across educational settings change because of the program. Finally, the study will seek to understand the lasting aspects of culture, training, and community building on SMM's internal teams and LinCT partner institutions (University of St. Catherine's National Center for STEM Elementary Education and Metropolitan State University's School of Urban Education).