Formative, Remedial and Summative Evaluations of My Sky

My Sky is a NASA funded project, which developed a traveling exhibition on astronomy. Boston Children’s Museum (BCM) created the exhibition in collaboration with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). Formative and remedial evaluations were conducted at BCM while the summative evaluation took place at the first two venues following BCM: Stepping Stones Museum for Children (Stepping Stones) in Norwalk, CT and The Providence Children’s Museum (PCM) in Providence, RI. Formative evaluation of the My Sky exhibit was conducted between April 2013 and June 2014 to ensure that the components under development were usable and understandable for the target audiences. Remedial evaluation was conducted during the six months that the exhibit was at BCM. Remedial evaluation was based on data collected between July and November 2014. The summative evaluation was conducted to provide information for the exhibit development team to determine the extent to which the project goals were met and if the exhibit was successful in accomplishing its intended outcomes. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect data between March 2015 and August 2015. This report includes evaluation findings, instruments, and a brief description of the My Sky exhibition.