Visitor Baseline study for Science on a Sphere at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The Sphere was installed in DMNS’ permanent space science gallery, Space Odyssey, in February 2010. Space Odyssey “Museum Galaxy Guides” (volunteer facilitators) were trained on Sphere operation and content in April 2010. The purpose of the Baseline Visitor Study was to establish a baseline of visitors’ length of stay, behavior, interactions, perceptions, and interest in the Sphere near the beginning of the grant period. These data and findings will serve a basis of comparison for future evaluations and
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Andrea GironDenver Museum of Nature & Science
Ice Planet Earth (IPE) was a three-year NSF-Funded grant, with a focus on building awareness and understanding of polar processes and designed to coincide with the International Polar Year, which took place from March 2007-March 2009. A key feature of the IPE project was the development of 'Ice Worlds', a planetarium style film designed for both general audiences and for students/youth. IPE was a collaboration between the University of New Hampshire, and the following institutions: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh; the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences; the Louisiana Art
The Great Immensity is a play with music created by the New York-based theater company, The Civilians. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), this production explores humans' relationship to the environment focusing on critical issues of conservation and climate change. It premiered at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KC Rep) from February 17 through March 18, 2012. This summative evaluation employs the Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects (Friedman 2008) to assess the play and its ancillary programs' impact on adult and student audiences
The Science Museum of Virginia (SMV) contracted with Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate Sphere Corps, a Science on a Sphere program about climate change developed by SMV with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The study was designed around RK&A's belief that organizations must be intentional in their practice by continually clarifying purpose, aligning practices and resources to achieve purpose, measuring outcomes, and learning from practice to strengthen ongoing planning and actions. To this end, the Sphere Corps project included five phases
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Virginia
Using an instrument developed by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, The Science Museum of Minnesota conducted a survey of their visitors to learn about their visitors' attitudes toward global warming. Based on the results of this survey, Science Museum of Minnesota visitors were statistically indistinguishable from the general public with regards to their attitudes toward global warming. By using this national study, we were able to interpret our visitors' knowledge and attitudes with respect to national trends and make
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Molly PhippsScience Museum of Minnesota
PROGRAM EVALUATION OF Climate Change and the Oceans Initiative: From Awareness to Action [2011] Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA The Monterey Bay Aquarium contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate four new programs that were part of the Climate Change and the Ocean Initiative: From Awareness to Action. To increase awareness of the impact of climate change on the oceans, the Aquarium developed three live shows and trained guides to engage visitors in discussions about the issue. The guide-visitor interactions occurred in Hot Pink Flamingos: Stories of Hope in a Changing Sea
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate Hot Pink Flamingos: Stories of Hope in a Changing Sea, a special exhibition that, according to MBA, explores how climate change is affecting ocean life and recommends small changes we all can make to help the oceans as well as big changes we can make together to solve the climate crisis. A summative evaluation explored how well MBA achieved its goals for the exhibition and identified other significant findings that may affect future projects. This evaluation combined methodologies to understand how visitors
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate its new exhibition, Madagascar!, located at the Bronx Zoo. Madagascar! showcases the wildlife and landscapes of the world's fourth largest island. Built in the historic Lion House, the exhibit transformed the interior, while preserving the historic building's Beaux-Arts beauty. The exhibit offers opportunities to see the island through the eyes of a conservationist at various interactive stations. RK&A worked with WCS to clarify its goals and objectives for Madagascar!. and to identify criteria
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Wildlife Conservation Society
The following comprise the CONCLUSIONS of SRA's evaluation: POLAR-PALOOZA toured the United States at a time when the topic of climate change and global warming appeared relatively low on a list of Americans' concerns (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 2006), with the economy, war, and health care taking precedence. Nevertheless, POLAR-PALOOZA was a powerful format for engaging the public and teachers with science, while also being a rewarding and worthwhile experience for the traveling scientists. PPZA was an ambitious and complex undertaking designed to bring what is
The California Academy of Sciences contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate the exhibition Altered State: Climate Change in California. In August 2009, RK&A conducted 111 timing and tracking observations of visitors 9 years and older, and 44 group interviews with adult visitors. While observations enabled examination of time spent at individual exhibits, time spent in the exhibition as a whole, and behaviors, the interviews shed light on visitors' response to the exhibition layout, understanding of specific exhibits, learning about climate change, and affective response to
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.California Academy of Sciences
Communicating Climate Change (C3) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project to foster innovative partnerships between research centers, the media, and science centers. David Heil & Associates, Inc. (DHA) is providing front-end, formative, and summative evaluation for the project. This report summarizes findings from Year 1 audience research that explored visitor attitudes towards climate change and interest in climate change-related programs and activities.
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Kasey McCrackenAssociation of Science Technology Centers
This National Science Foundation Informal Science Education project was a "Citizen Science" weather and climate observing program focused on the Central Great Plains region of the U.S. Volunteers of all ages, primarily self selected, equipped with simple and low cost instruments for measuring rain, hail and snow, were recruited, trained and equipped to help measure and report precipitation. This region of the country is well known for its extreme and highly variable climate with strong seasonal cycles, dramatic day to day weather changes, drought vulnerability, as well as the propensity for