To inform development of the Curious by Nature exhibit and related programs, staff at the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo (JMZ) wants to hear from parents. Staff are especially interested in the experience of families with children who have special needs. In recent years the JMZ has developed an audience in this community of often close-knit friends and organizations. JMZ is also part of a successful collaboration with Abilities United and PACE (Pacific Autism Center for Education) in which disabled adults volunteer in the Zoo on a weekly basis. The institution’s intimate nature, good design and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Wendy MeluchPalo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo
The National Science Foundation funded Roadside Heritage (RH) to produce three major deliverables during this project: (1) STEM-rich audio stories for the traveling public that highlight the science associated with Highway 395; (2) Traveling festival kits that highlight major STEM features of the Eastern Sierra landscape; and (3) The RH website, a STEM-rich site highlighting the natural and cultural landscape associate with Highway 395. During the project’s final year, WestEd conducted summative evaluation activities targeting each of these deliverables. Appendix contains survey.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jerome HippsSharon HerpinDonna Winston
With the Role of Media in Supporting Informal Science Learning project, the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) and Grunwald Associates sought to establish a “national learning initiative” to explore the intersection of media and informal science learning. To do so, ILI proposed an initial conference followed by the development of a website and online community. The National Science Foundation funded this project, with additional funding provided by the National Parks Service. Held in March 2009, the 1.5 day conference was designed to be a “first step” in the development of a conversation
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elizabeth Bandy, Ph.D.Institute for Learning Innovation
The InformalScience.org web site is a resource for researchers working in the field of informal science and provides access to information linking researchers with one another and to member-contributed resources. Through use of the web site resources such as member projects, publications, and evaluation reports, users have opportunities to develop social and human capital. This report analyzes the value of InformalScience.org in supporting participants in the community as they navigate and advance the changing field of informal science education (ISE) research. In addition, we identify
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) is serving as the external evaluator of the three-year, NSF-funded Science Festival Alliance (SFA) project with this report summarizing results from the first year of the project. First year data collection was completed in June 2010. It included: Surveys of 1,411 San Diego Science Festival (SDSF) and 1,054 Cambridge Science Festival (CSF) attendees; End-of-year focus groups with each of the festival (SDSF and CSF) team leaders; and An online survey of 11 principal Alliance team members. The report is organized around four key questions: 1. Who participated
The findings summarized in this summative evaluation report focus on three of The World's media venues: (1) its radio broadcast, (2) its Science Podcast (http://www.world-science.org/category/podcast), and (3) its online resources (e.g., articles, streaming audio and video). An additional focus is on The World's participatory Science and Technology Forums. The primary research aim was to assess the project's impact and success at reaching its intended goals while avoiding unintended negative outcomes. Toward these ends, The World's audience members were asked to respond to an online survey
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Arthur JohnsonPublic Radio International (PRI)
For the NSF ISE QUEST Regional Hub Collaborative project, KQED's QUEST series Executive Producer Sue Ellen McCann assembled teams from six public media organizations around the country. The project was founded on two deceptively straightforward goals: the adaptation of a successful multi-media production model and the creation of a content-sharing collaborative. Yet, when one dissects the elements required to achieve these goals, a complex set of questions emerges. These questions uncover how and why public media organizations create 21st Century STEM content, and the answers to these complex
Science Cafes are a popular venue for engaging adults in dialogue on issues at the nexus of science and society. A few Cafe programs have been designed specifically for teens. One such program, with a focus on youth leadership and promoting life skills in youth, Cafe Scientifique New Mexico, was the subject of a summative evaluation in the Spring 2010. The summative evaluation used a quasi-experimental design with matched control-treatment groups (N=383) to study the impact of the program on 1) attitudes towards science, scientists, and science careers and 2) Positive Youth Development (PYD)
Research Questions: (1) To what extent do children's and parent's interest in math and science increase as a result of exposure to one or more of the project's components? (2) To what extent do children and parents want to engage further with Mateo y Cientina after initial exposure to the cartoon through one or more of the project's components? (3) To what extent do parents and children think they've learned new concepts about math and science as a result of completing a Mateo y Cientina activity? (4) To what extent do parents and children gain confidence in their understanding of math and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sarah MushlinUniversity of CaliforniaColleen Kuusinen
ExhibitFiles is an online community for exhibit practitioners developed by the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The website provides an infrastructure for sharing and building knowledge about exhibition development and design practices. After testing, the site officially opened on April 23, 2007. Influenced by learning theories such a Wenger's community of practice (1998) and Web 2.0 concepts, the project team incorporated site features and management strategies to develop and extend the professional networks and the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Carey TisdalAssociation of Science-Technology Centers
In summary, this Planning Grant has demonstrated that the Fusion Science Theater mode successfully uses the dramatic structure of a play to create an investigative, participatory theater event that conveys science information, concepts, and methodology in a way that is engaging to children and attractive to parents and educators. The model can be transferred to others both by teaching others to develop their own shows and by training undergraduates to perform FST shows that have already been created. Finally, significant achievements have occurred in publicizing the model and in recruiting
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Joanne CantorMadison Area Technical College
EVALUATION PURPOSE The purpose of this evaluation was to determine which visitors are attracted to interpreter-staffed Discovery Carts and what behaviors they exhibit that reflect their learning experience. To do this, 348 observations of unique visitor interactions with Discovery Carts were collected from January 21 to February 17, 2010. KEY FINDINGS What age group is most attracted to the Discovery Carts? Children ages 3 to10 comprise the majority of visitors to the Discovery Carts. Who initiates the interaction between visitors and the cart? The visitor initiates the majority of
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kathryn FromsonJessica NewkirkElizabeth RosinoShannon WeissPacific Science Center