RISES (Re-energize and Invigorate Student Engagement through Science) is a coordinated suite of resources including 42 interactive English and Spanish STEM videos produced by Children's Museum Houston in coordination with the science curriculum department at Houston ISD. The videos are aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, and each come with a bilingual Activity Guide and Parent Prompt sheet, which includes guiding questions and other extension activities.
This report summarizes the main findings from the Cultivating Confidence research study, which investigated the impact of a single science museum visit on young adults' science self-efficacy and views of science.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Hsin-Yi ChienJulia NeeJenn ShepardJosh Gutwill
The Thinkery will develop research-based exhibit materials and community resources to support adults as learning facilitators for their children. The museum will formalize a decade-long research relationship with a nationally recognized expert in child development and learning to establish new infrastructure and capacity to translate best practices from learning sciences into museum operations. The museum will create a 180-foot learning hub that blends elements of an exhibition and research space, allowing the prototyping and evaluation of exhibits by engaging visitors as active participants in research studies. The project team will produce bilingual exhibit prompts cards, signage, and enhancements to educate and inform parents by offering STEAM knowledge, inquiry questions, play-based learning and child development information. Additional project activities will include the development and implementation of related staff trainings and the establishment of an online parent resource gallery.
DuPage Children's Museum will enhance visitor engagement by incorporating current research on infant and toddler development to redesign two exhibits and develop an educational program for low-income caregivers. The museum will partner with two community-based organizations, Teen Parent Connection and Family Focus DuPage, to collaborate in the project and refer clients to participate in the educational programs. The museum will present twelve onsite sessions that will enable parents and caregivers to nurture an understanding of STEM fundamentals at the museum and at home for their young children. Participants will be given educational videos and take-home kits that correspond with the educational sessions. Project activities will also include training to help museum staff use the exhibits to further a visitor's learning experience. The museum will disseminate project results to other children's museums and early childhood educators and professionals.
The Habitot Children's Museum will renovate its Rocketship and Mission Control exhibition to increase functionality, making it more accessible and interactive for parents, caregivers, and children. With input from the community and a professional advisory group of museum professionals, early learning specialists, space scientists and parents, the museum will refurbish, update, and improve exhibition access for children with special needs by completing previously identified universal design requirements; adding interactive components that support young children's need for open-ended, play-based experiences to build strong STEM learning foundations; and addressing adult visitors' needs to have defined roles in exhibition spaces to better engage with their children. A customized, observation-based evaluation tool will be used to measure the identified project outcomes.
Identifying causal relationships is an important aspect of research and evaluation in visitor studies, such as making claims about the learning outcomes of a program or exhibit. Experimental and quasi-experimental approaches are powerful tools for addressing these causal questions. However, these designs are arguably underutilized in visitor studies. In this article, we offer examples of the use of experimental and quasi-experimental designs in science museums to aide investigators interested in expanding their methods toolkit and increasing their ability to make strong causal claims about
Since the late 2000s, interest in the development and use of shared measures in the informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education (ISE) field has increased. The intent is to build the capacity of evaluators to measure common outcomes of ISE experiences. We begin this chapter with a definition of shared measures, a description of related technical qualities of these measures, and a discussion of benefits and concerns around the use of shared measures. We then review recent conversations and developments around shared measures, including examples of observational
Magnolia Consulting, LLC conducted a formative and summative evaluation to examine public perceptions of the utility and quality of two labs/exhibits within the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Natural World Investigate Lab, Biofuels and Science of Scent. Appendix includes survey.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
North Carolina State Museum of Natural ScienceMary Styers
This resource showcases a conference poster that the Wildlife Conservation Society presented at the 2014 Visitor Studies Association Conference and the 2014 Inclusive Museum Conference, outlining the work we undertook to explore the development of a proposed new family exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, "Safari Adventure," paired with selected results and takeaways. In 2011, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded WCS a grant to support our investigation and development. We asked ourselves the questions: How can zoo exhibits better connect people to nature? By what methods can we explore
A two stage summative evaluation was conducted following the launch of the Mystic Seaport for Educators website, the final output resulting from the IMLS National Leadership grant entitled Mystic E-Port Digital Classroom project. The results of four focus groups, conducted in two phases, found consistent results suggesting that the project was successful at achieving all four goals as outlined in the original grant proposal. Appendix includes focus group protocol.
This analysis of visitors’ experience of the "Congo Gorilla Forest" exhibition at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo was commissioned to investigate how this 15 year old exhibition is perceived by visitors, and if things have changed since an original summative evaluation in 1999-2000. Questions of particular interest were: 1. Have the characteristics of visitors seeing this exhibition changed? Has awareness or interest in environmental concepts changed? 2. Is the exhibition still appealing to visitors? 3. Are exhibit components such as the film and Conservation Choices Computers
The Bronx Zoo of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) engaged Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. to conduct formative evaluation and community focus groups related to a proposed exhibit, "Safari Adventure." The aim with this exhibit is to provide better connections to nature for families in our community and foster a life-long sense of environmental stewardship. The exhibit concept was born of the issue that, today, there exists a greater need to connect people to nature than ever before, a topic especially relevant for our community—part of the largest urban population in the United States