The Museum of Science, Boston led the From Project Mercury to Planet Mars: Introducing Engineering and Inspiring Youth through Humanity’s Greatest Adventure project (FPMPM) as a way to produce and share high-quality informal engineering education opportunities about the topic of human space travel to Mars. The grant involved the creation of two products that address human space travel to Mars: an immersive full-dome planetarium show and a hands-on engineering design challenge. To evaluate the grant work, the Research & Evaluation Department at the Museum of Science, Boston conducted a
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Annette SawyerKatie ToddLeigh Ann MesitiAlex LussenhopKeith Allison
Previous research has identified parental involvement—the ways parents and other caring adults interact with children in and outside of the home, and the kinds of learning materials with which parents surround children—as key to helping children develop knowledge and skills in literacy and math (Bassok, Finch, Lee, Reardon, & Waldfogel, 2016; Burgess, Hecht, & Lonigan, 2002; Niklas, Nguyen, Cloney, Tayler, & Adams, 2016; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002; Skwarchuk, Sowinski, & LeFevre, 2014). Parental support may be critical to children’s developing knowledge and understanding in science as well.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Megan SilanderTodd GrindalNaomi HupertElisa GarciaKea AndersonPhilip VaheyShelley Pasnik