Living Laboratory® (developed at the Museum of Science, Boston in 2005) is a new model for partnerships between museums and cognitive scientists, bringing cognitive scientists to museums, where they conduct active research studies with museum visitors as their subjects. In 2011, the Museum of Science began scaling up Living Laboratory to create a National Living Lab network. In Year 1, the program expanded to three new Hub sites: Madison Children’s Museum, Maryland Science Center, and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. This report summarizes all formative evaluation from Year 1 of the
The aim of the work reported here has been to give an overview of the support that the informal sector provides for learning and engagement with science. In addressing this goal, we have taken the view that engagement with science and the learning of science occur both within and without schools. What is of interest is not who provides the experience or where it is provided but the nature and diversity of opportunities for science learning and engagement that are offered in contemporary UK society. Thus in approaching the work we have taken a systems perspective and looked at informal
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted process and summative evaluation for the New York Aquarium (Wildlife Conservation Society) of Project POWER: Protecting Our Wetlands with Educators and Regulators. The project was designed to train teams from around the country to present wetlands workshops in their local communities to reduce the frequency and magnitude of wetlands violations by community residents. As part of their participation in Project POWER, in March 2006, teams attended a two-day Leadership Seminar where they received training and resources. The primary goal of the
In October 2009, the Tennessee Aquarium began an ambitious program, Connecting Tennessee to the World Ocean (CTWO), funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CTWO consists of several individual projects, all intended to increase the ocean literacy of Aquarium audiences and to promote their adoption of an ocean stewardship ethic. This evaluation report summarizes the extent to which the Aquarium accomplished these goals over the 3-year project period. The five project components and their key associated evaluation findings follow. 1. Classroom-based activities
The overall goal of the project was to convene a large-scale, open conference on public participation in scientific research, bringing together science researchers, project leaders, educators, technology specialists, evaluators, and others from across many disciplines to discuss advancing the field of PPSR. The conference included three sessions for posters and conversations, and five plenary sessions of presentations. The meeting culminated in an open meeting to explore strategies for large-scale collaborations to support and advance work across this field of practice, through the development
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Joe E HeimlichPublic Participation in Scientific Research
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Dimensions of Public Engagement with Science is a project funded through the National Science Foundation's pathways grant. It was designed to explore the relationship between Public Engagement with Science (PES), which involves mutual learning between experts and publics, and Public Understanding of Science (PUS), where information is transferred one-way from experts to publics, within Informal Science Education (ISE). To look at how PES and PUS were being incorporated into current and recent activities, the project team compiled a catalog of case summaries from institutions around the world
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
The Workshop to Explore Engaging Broader Publics in Conversations about Assessment of the Societal Implications of New and Emerging Directions in Science and Technology (ECAST Workshop) was created to explore network-building activities to more broadly involve the public in deliberations about the assessment of technology. The workshop aimed to develop models for leveraging the work done by ECAST (Expert & Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology), and specifically expand the reach of the World Wide Views (WWViews) on Biodiversity deliberations. The project team wanted to brainstorm ways
In spring 2009, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Museum) contracted with JVA Consulting, LLC (JVA) to conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of the Passport to Health (P2H) program. The Museum designed P2H, originally a three-year program funded by the Colorado Health Foundation (the Foundation), to improve health outcomes for fifth-grade students as well as their families and teachers throughout the Denver metro area. Passport to Health has seven components, designed to complement each other and help the Museum achieve its stated program goals. The seven components
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TEAM MEMBERS:
JVA Consulting, LLCDenver Museum of Nature & Science
Engaging and Learning for Conservation: Workshop on Public Participation in Scientific Research was held at the American Museum of Natural History 7-8 April 2011. This preliminary report is based on the delayed post feedback from workshop participants 2-3 months following the workshop. The overall goals of the project are to convene a workshop for scientists, educators, and community members involved in public participation in scientific research (PPSR) to share experiences, lessons, protocols, and tool and to collaboratively set forth a coherent agenda for answering outstanding questions for
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Joe E HeimlichAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryCornell UniversityNational Audubon Society
The Language of Conservation was a collaborative project between libraries, zoos, and poets nationwide to replicate a project originally undertaken by the Central Park Zoo. The project model built zoo, library, and poet-in-residence partnerships in five host cities: Brookfield, Illinois; Jacksonville, Florida; Little Rock, Arkansas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and New Orleans, Louisiana. It was anticipated that the zoo exhibits would result in positive outcomes for zoo visitors who encountered the poetry, including increasing the conservation thinking and language used after a visit and creating a
Illuminated Verses explored issues of traditional culture and modernity, as well as differences and diversity within the Islamic world, and offers an interpretive bridge to these content areas for both scholarly and general audiences. Through a symposium and a series of pre-events leading up to that program, Poets House and CityLore explored ways of using poetry, discussion and interpretation of poetry to create bridges for intercultural understanding. The symposium and pre-symposium events also served as a springboard to explore the potential for a broader, potentially national, program. This