The Nanomedicine Explorer kiosk at the Museum of Science, Boston provides opportunities to learn about nanomedicine, nanotechnology, cancer biology, new research in cancer diagnosis and therapy, and the process of medical research from bench to bedside. This report is the formative evaluation of the prototype of this kiosk, presenting the results of visitor observations, exit surveys, and interviews. The findings of these data served to provide the Nanomedicine Explorer production team a basis from which to make improvements to the program, which was released as Version 1.0 in May of 2009
The Internet, specifically the World Wide Web (WWW), has the potential to deliver science education materials directly to classrooms, media centers, libraries and homes. The current application seeks to use this new technology through a collaborative effort of an active scientist and a group of middle school science teachers to develop, disseminate and evaluate educational materials related to neuroscience for use in middle school science classes. This project attempts to introduce new technologies into the science classroom, extend science education to include the information superhighway and increase parental involvement in their children's education. Materials will be integrated with the existing middle school science curriculum and will include l) on-line and off-line experiments and activities covering a range of topics in neuroscience, 2) a "virtal neuroscience laboratory", 3) an Internet neuroscience resource list and 4) a "Neuroscientist Network" consisting of active neuroscientists around the world who will serve as experts answering student questions. All activities will be designed will attention to being self-paced, hands-on, entertaining and to involve Cooperative learning. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to evaluate the usage of the Intemet Neuroscience Resource. It is hoped that this project will serve as a model to other scientists and teachers and to encourage them to develop Internet resources in their own areas of expertise for use in the classroom.
With NCRR SEPA Phase I funding, the Exploratorium developed a microscope imaging station (MIS) for public use in the museum. At this facility, visitors explore living things using research-grade equipment. For visitors, microscopes and images are engagement points for learning more about basic biology, biomedical research, and human health. With SEPA Phase II funding, the Exploratorium proposes to use the infrastructure and educational approach developed in Phase I to: (1) Create a wider, more comprehensive array of biomedically relevant, image-based materials-including still and time-lapse images, movies, and teaching activities; and (2) Disseminate these to students, teachers, museum visitors, the broader public, and other science centers. The Exploratorium will collaborate with biomedical researchers to generate high-resolution images and plan public programs. Material from these collaborations will be on current biomedical topics. Planned dissemination activities include eight "Meet the Scientist and Learn about Their Research" public programs; Saturday teacher workshops; development of multimedia exhibit content for museum display; development of web content for the MIS site; creation of image-based teacher activities; inclusion of images, movies, and activities in established web-based teacher resources (as well as new resources for high-bandwidth Internet2 application). Materials will be free to other educational institutions. Using these dissemination strategies, the Exploratorium expects to attract and engage well over 1 million visitors annually.