This report presents and analyzes the findings from a front-end evaluation of Vicious Fishes and Other Riches, a National Science Foundation-funded traveling exhibition being developed by the Miami Museum of Science in Miami, Florida (MMS) in collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minnesota (SMM). Front-end evaluation helps planners understand how visitors comprehend and think about themes, ideas, concepts, and objects that will be displayed in an exhibition. It seeks common ground between visitors and the exhibition. Findings from the study demonstrate visitors'
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Miami Museum of Science
The purpose of this summative evaluation was to document visitors' use and impressions of Vanishing Wildlife immediately upon viewing the exhibit and, again, several months after their visit. In addition, staff members wanted to determine if the exhibit motivates visitors to perform specific conservation actions once they leave the aquarium. By collecting data three different ways (through timing and tracking observations, on-site exit questionnaires, and telephone questionnaires), and then comparing the results with data from Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) exit surveys, the evaluators were able
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Monterey Bay Aquarium
This is a report from the supplemental summative evaluation of the exhibition, Genetics: Decoding Life at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. The evaluation was designed to measure visitors' attention to the main messages of the exhibition, visitors' thinking and attitudes about genetics, and whether visitors made connection among their genes, themselves, and their families. The evaluation was designed to establish findings that complemented and built upon a previous summative evaluation. Two types of exit interviews were used to gather qualitative and quantitative data. A total of
Evidence from the data collected on the Midwest Wild Weather Project indicates that the teachers are very excited about its potential for increasing their students' science literacy and understanding of the scientific process, as well as increasing their knowledge of the weather and exciting them about science in general. Students are very focused, enthusiastic and excited when interacting with the exhibits and universally pleased with their exploration and explainer experiences. MWW is also effectively reaching the intended underserved and underrepresented students across the nine sites are
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Gregory AloiaSciTech Hands On Museum
In the Fall/Winter of 2002/3, RMC Research Corporation (RMC) conducted a summative evaluation of The Human Body film and outreach materials, including lobby exhibit, Teacher's Resource Guide, and Web site. These were the culminating activities in a series of studies conducted over the past three years related to The Human Body project, including formative evaluations of the film and each of the outreach components. These summative evaluations were designed to determine the overall effect on audiences of the finished products. This report contains sections relating to the major elements of The
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Alice ApleyMaryland Science CenterRalph AdlerWendy GrahamLaura Winn
Flip It, Fold It, Figure It Out! is a 1500-sq. foot traveling mathematics exhibition with companion take-home educational materials. There are two copies of the traveling exhibit: one for the members of the North Carolina Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative reaching over 500,000 visitors, and a second for travel nationally to science centers reaching an estimated 750,000 additional visitors. Take-home activity kits were developed for visitors to continue informal mathematics explorations at home. The activities included expand and extend the exhibit themes, offering multiple levels to meet the needs of K-5 students and their families.
The Minnesota Children's Museum, in collaboration with the American Library Association will develop a project to engage children ages two through seven years old and their parents in exploring mathematics through hands-on, book-based math activities in libraries and children's museums across the country. The main elements of the project are: 1. A 1200 square foot exhibit at the Minnesota Children's Museum; 2. A traveling exhibit to ten children's museums over a six month period; 3. Five smaller versions of the exhibit will travel to 75 libraries sponsored by the American Library Association. Each library that apply for the exhibit must present a plan in which 50 percent of their exhibit audience will be children and families of the under-represented, lower income groups, and racial and/or ethnic groups. 4. Programs and materials will be designed to provide parents with the means to actively participate in their children's math education. The collaboration of the Minnesota Children's Museum and the American Library Association draws together two organizations whose natural constituencies are parents with young children. Project 1,2,3 is designed to be national in scope and creates multiple formats within which families can enjoy exploring math. Its goals and objectives reflect four messages: start early, math is everywhere, parental involvement and get into books. The project Principal Investigator (PI) Ms. Jeanne W. Vergeront received her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Science in Child and Family Studies and Environmental Design, respectively from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Currently, she serves as the Vice President, Educational Projects at the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Explore Evolution is a three-year project that uses a combination of traveling exhibits and activity kits to introduce the concept of evolution to museum audiences and 4-H groups. Six museum partners will collaborate on the development of eleven interactive exhibit modules on the following topics: disease in humans, eye development in animals, fruit fly diversity, sexual selection, hominoid development and extinction. The museum consortium includes the Kansas Museum and Biodiversity Center, Museum of the Rockies (MT), Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Science Museum of Minnesota, University of Nebraska State Museum and the Exhibits Museum of the University of Michigan. The inquiry-based activity kits will be modeled after the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's "Wonderwise" kits, funded in part by NSF, and designed for middle school audiences. An "Explore Evolution" website will be launched to support the exhibits and activity kits. Dissemination will occur through museum education programs as well as a consortium of 4-H programs in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Michigan, Nebraska and Wyoming. It is anticipated that more than 1.8 million museum visitors and 800,000 4-H members will participate in this project.
The World Wildlife Fund will develop Windows on the Wild - Exploring Biodiversity. The components of this project include two editions of a 2000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit, mini-exhibition kits designed to reach small and medium-sized institutions, and complementary educational materials designed to reach the general public and families including traditionally underserved audiences, students, and educators. With this project WWF intends to raise awareness and interest in biodiversity - its importance and its decline; raise awareness of the nature and role of scientific research in investigating and protecting biodiversity; raise awareness of, interest in, and understanding of the impacts of personal choices on biodiversity; and motivate and empower individuals to get involved in biodiversity issues. The exhibits will include a centerpiece theater introduction surrounded by five sections presenting activities and information related to the themes: What is Biodiversity? How Do We Find Out? Why is it Important? Why Is It at Risk? and How Can We Get Involved? Ancillary materials form the general public will include A Family Biodiversity Discovery Notebook, a take-home booklet, a brochure format for host institutions to use highlighting local events, among others. Complementary materials linking the exhibit to formal education activities include Educator's Info, and Windows on the Wild Biodiversity Educational Materials, as well as information about workshop and institutes.
The Exploratorium will develop a 6000 sq. f.t exhibit Seeing: The Interaction of Physiology, Culture, and Technology . As the first exhibit and program development project of their multiyear initiative "Refocusing on the Floor," this permanent exhibit will consist of approximately 60 new and redesigned exhibits organized into six sections: Seeing Central, Light and Images, Process of Seeing, Seeing Things Differently, Extending Our Vision, and Deconstructing What We See. Visitors will develop their skills at seeing, noticing, and visual thinking, will become more conscious of visual information in daily life, be exposed to current research on vision and visual cognition, be given opportunities to investigate the social and cultural influences on seeing, and be lead to the realization that seeing, interpreting, and understanding visual information are basic to the conduct of science. New partnerships will be developed with community-based organizations that will promote new audiences for the Exploratorium as well as enhance the viewpoints of the participating staff members. The activities will address the National Science Standards in terms of the process skills that are identified and will reintroduce visual thinking skills into the activities linking the exhibit with the formal education's curriculum. Additional workshops and professional dissemination activities will be included in the overall project.
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) will develop Window on Catalhoyuk: An Archaeological Work in Progress. The project will include a 4,500 sq. ft. exhibit, a World Wide Web site, an exhibit cookbook for archaeology interactives developed for the exhibit, and a suite of related classroom activities. Catalhoyuk is currently the most important archaeological site in Turkey and among the most significant cultural heritage monuments in the world. It consists of two mounds located on either side of an ancient river channel. The larger mound has Early Neolithic age occupation levels (9000 and 7500 years ago) and represents one of the largest known Neolithic settlements, holding links to the beginnings of agriculture, animal domestication, and the rise of urban complexity. The smaller mound consists of more recent occupations (7500 to 5000 years ago). Together they may record nearly 10,000 years of human occupation. SMM has been a partner, along with the Turkish team, in the Catalhoyuk Research Project since its inception in 1993 and has the responsibility of developing public programs and for bringing the research findings before a worldwide audience. Unlike a traditional approach where the results of archaeological research appear years after the excavations, this project will focus on the process of archaeology giving visitors the opportunity of learning about the workings of contemporary archaeology and the nature of scientific inquiry, along with the important insight into the beginning of Mediterranean civilization. The exhibit will be updated annually for two years to reflect new results of ongoing fieldwork. The project addresses the National Science Education Standards, particularly those related to science as inquiry and to the history and nature of science.
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Donald PohlmanNatalie RuskOrrin Shane
The Informal Science Education Program of the National Science foundation will provide $320,000 in partial support of "Research in Learning in Museums Project." This will be the NSF contribution to a four federal agency effort to collaboratively support a major research project on learning in museums. As the result of an RFP developed by representatives of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the National Science Foundation (NSF), an award was made to the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. It was agreed by the four agencies that the IMLS would be the coordinating agency of this award since they represent all museum regardless of subject, content, or type of audience.