This summative evaluation report details the Broad Implementation of the Living Laboratory model--an initiative to promote partnership between museums and cognitive science researchers in order to promote professional learning and involve the public in scientific research. The evaluation investigated the extent of the dissemination effort’s depth, spread, sustainability, and shift in ownership, based on Coburn’s criteria for scale-up (2003). Evaluators collected data from surveys, interviews, focus groups, document review, and observations. Findings about depth suggest that adopters fully
NatureStart Network brought together early childhood educators and environmental educators to support nature play, exploration, and inquiry for young children and their families within urban environments. Project partners included the Forest Preserves of Cook County and two established Head Start programs in the Chicago area, Mary Crane Center and El Valor. The foundation of the project was a series of three two-day professional learning sessions that took place over an eighteen month period. Through hands-on, collaborative learning and reflection activities, the participating educators
Roots of Wisdom (also known as Generations of Knowledge) is a 5-year project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF-DRL #1010559) in support of a cross-cultural reciprocal collaboration to develop a traveling exhibit, banner exhibit, and education resources that bring together Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and western science. The summative evaluation for public audience impacts was conducted by the Lifelong Learning Group (COSI, Columbus, OH), in collaboration with Native Pathways (Laguna, NM).
Science from the Start (SFTS) was a two-year early childhood program funded by IMLS, with matching funds from the Sciencenter. The goal of SFTS was to empower teachers, parents, and caregivers to do more science with their students and children. Although the SFTS program continues today,this final summary report describes the results of the initial two-year pilot project only.
The NISE Network Professional Impacts Summative Evaluation is a longitudinal examination of individual professionals over the final three years of NISE Net funding. This investigation is based on the NISE Network goals for professionals and explores how involvement with NISE Net impacts an individual professional’s sense of community, learning about nano, and use of nano educational products and practices. This evaluation primarily included professional partners who were: (1) Informal Science Educators (ISE): Professionals from science museums and children’s museums implementing informal
Throughout the five year SciGirls CONNECT grant the independent evaluation firm Knight Williams assisted Twin Cities PBS (TPT) in a wide range of program evaluation activities. Given the project’s emphasis on a Train-the-Trainer model, the evaluation prioritized two goals: (i) assessing the various levels of CONNECT trainings from different vantage and time points, and (ii) capturing information on the implementation of SciGirls programs led by those who completed a training. This evaluation approach allowed the team to collect ongoing data over the course of the grant and share this
While some public works are monumental civil engineering structures like the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Harbour Bridge, most are commonplace, even invisible, and they are taken for granted. The reason for existence of public works is to provide basic services, but both large and small infrastructure facilities also present opportunities to engage the public in understanding fundamental concepts of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). We review here lessons learned in the National Science Foundation-funded Golden Gate Bridge Outdoor Exhibition project. Using the title of
Astronomy from the Ground Up (AFGU) was a five year project directed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) and funded by the NSF Informal Science Education (ISE) division (DRL- 0451933). The primary partner institutions were the National Optical AstronomyObservatory (NOAO) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC). Between 2006 and 2008, the AFGU project hosted 6 onsite and 6 online workshops. The project provided professional development for informal science educators in the area of astronomy educational
programming. The project’s primary goal was to encourage more
The purpose of the Museum of Science and Industry’s new Teacher Professional Development Series (TPDS) is to improve student performance in science by enhancing their teachers’ science content knowledge, instructional strategies, and museum skills. By combining solid content, hands-on classroom activities, inquiry-based instruction, and tools for a successful Museum visit, the Museum seeks to assist 4th-8th grade teachers who want to help students explore basic science concepts in new and engaging ways.
The major goals for the overall Teacher Professional Development Series are as follows: (1
Since the summer of 2006, the Nature Museum at Grafton (TNM) has been offering three day intensive courses in Nature Writing and Nature Journaling. In 2006-07, TNM worked with PEER Associates to develop and analyze a survey which teachers complete on the last day of their course. TNM has continued to use that evaluation method, and, in December 2008 and February 2010, asked past participants to answer follow up questions about their future interest in programming options, experiences with the institutes, and their implementation of course content in their own classrooms. In late 2010, TNM
Beginning in autumn 2011, Education Development Center’s Center for Children and Technology (EDC|CCT) worked closely with Iridescent to evaluate the impact of its Family Science after-school program on its participants and partners.1 Between September 2011 and April 2015, Iridescent held six series of five-week programs in New York and Los Angeles at nine different school and museum sites. The program activities centered on “design challenges” that introduced families to the engineering design process and supported the development of curiosity, creativity, and persistence. These five-week
The Center for Children and Technology (CCT) at Education Development Center, Inc., an international nonprofit research and development organization (cct.edc.org), conducted the formative evaluation of the fourth year of the Be A Scientist! (BAS) project. This project, managed by Iridescent—a nonprofit afterschool science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program (www.iridescentlearning.org), has the goal of providing high-quality afterschool science and engineering courses to underserved families in New York City and Los Angeles. The project aims to enable participants to