The Review of NISE Network Evaluation Findings: Years 1-5 seeks to investigate the work of the NISE Network since its inception in 2005 and provide an overarching summary of NISE Net Public Impacts evaluation efforts to the NISE Network and the broader ISE field.
This study looks specifically at the activities of the Tier I, II and III institutions as a way of determining whether it is likely that NISE Net will have an impact on the public through the NSET public outreach activities of those institutions. The main question driving this study is the following: To what extent is NISE Net reaching the public through the different tiers of the Network? This study presents preliminary findings from the Study 2 investigation, looking specifically at the actions of the professionals who have come into contact with NISE Net (including those who have attended
In this article, Eric Siegel, Director and Chief Content Officer at the New York Hall of Science, addresses examples of exhibitions that attempt to create experiences that communicate phenomena too big, small, slow, or abstract for normal sensory comprehension. This article also includes a case study by Gretchen Baker, Exhibition Development Manager at the Field Museum, and a case study by Tim Martin, Principal of Tim Martin Design.
In spring of 1992, Scripps Institution of Oceanography will open a new Aquarium-Museum. The enlarges facility will include a 3700 sq. ft. gallery, the Scripps Hall of Oceanography. Funding is requested for a new exhibit in this gallery, Exploring the Blue Planet, which will offer visitors an overview of the ocean sciences -- to our knowledge, the only major exhibit on oceanography in the United States. The exhibit first introduces visitors to our water planet, followed by a walk through the history of oceanographic research. Visitors are then invited to explore the ocean world as if they were oceanographers themselves, making discoveries as they follow the theme of "water" through the hall, adding components one-by-one to build a global system: first water alone (water chemistry and movements), then adding air (climate and weather), next adding land (seafloor spreading and plate tectonics), and finally adding life (adaptations of organisms to the marine environment). Through interactive exhibits on scientific concepts, coupled with exhibits on related Scripps research projects, visitors gain an appreciation for the process of science and its application to their everyday lives. The conclusion of Exploring the Blue Planet brings together the four realms of water, air, land and life to emphasize the nature of Earth as an interrelated global system. Visitors learn that oceanography, an interdisciplinary science that is global in scale and often international in practice, lends itself to a balanced and comprehensive investigation of global change and our future on earth.
This exhibit will integrate graphics, artifacts, highly interactive electro-mechanical demonstration devices together with state of the art interactive educational computer technology to demonstrate how probability shapes nature. It will draw its examples from a variety of scientific fields including physics, chemistry, earth sciences, and biology. It is planned as a permanent addition to the Museum's exhibition program, but will be designed to facilitate easy reproduction for individual copies or for circulation as a travelling exhibit. Millions of visitors--families, teachers, children form diverse communities--will gain a first hand aesthetic appreciation of the pattern finding process of scientific investigation as well as a better understanding of the usefulness of mathematics in explaining how the natural world works.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
H. Eugene StanleyDouglas SmithEdwin Taylor
The integration of research with education and outreach is an essential aspect of our Center's mission. In order to assure the most effective use of our expertise and resources, we have developed a multi-faceted approach with activities that focus on coherent themes that address our three primary audiences: research community, our neighborhood, and the general public. These activities include research internships, enrichment programs for students & teachers, and informal science opportunities.
Educators, docents, and interpreters are considered integral to the learning experiences at many museums. Although there is growing recognition that these staff members need professional development to effectively support visitor learning, there has been little research to describe their work or identify effective facilitation strategies. To address this need, we explored the nature of unstructured staff-facilitated family learning at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, OR, videotaping and inductively analyzing 65 unstructured staff-family interactions. The analysis